Cavatina: Ongoing Adventures of the Bonny Welshman
by sidlerocks
Summary: The continuing saga of the Bonny Welshman and Kam Anders, picking up right where "Janus and Hestia" left off.
1. Part 1

**Cavatina: The Ongoing Adventures of the **_**Bonny Welshman**_

_And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a hero._

_--Walt Whitman  
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Author's note:

First, for those who've been wondering, puppy Ianto just turned four months old, is the size of a small horse, and far more trouble than his namesake EVER imagined being, but he's every bit as smart and appealing. And still just as awkward as Kam was when first we met him.

For those new to the saga of the _Bonny Welshman_, this fabulous world is the creation of Helen Pattskyn who has oh, so graciously allowed me to play in it again.

Here's the story list:

_Forget Not Me_ Helen Pattskyn

_Interlude: A Tale of Kam Anders_ Sidlerocks

_Intermezzo: Another Tale of Kam Anders_ Sidlerocks

_Janus and Hestia _Helen Pattskyn

_Cavatina: The Ongoing Adventures of the **Bonny Welshman** _Sidlerocks

And don't worry; Helen's got another story coming right after this one.

These stories are set far in the future in Helen's wonderful AU'Verse. Familiarity with the AU'Verse would definitely provide background information, but is not necessary to appreciate this story. Reading the previous _Welshman_ chapters, on the other hand, is essential as it's really a single ongoing story.

If you want to follow the _**entire**_ story chronologically, it falls more or less like this (the original skeleton of this list was built by itoshii chan, but I've since edited and amended it, with Helen's help--any mistakes here are mine):

AU'VERSE series:

PART 1: Short Stories chs. 7 – 9 42 – 44 10 – 12 45 – 1st half of 55 1 2nd half of 55 – 57

PART 2: You Keep Me Warm At Night

PART 3: Short Stories chs. 2 – 6

PART 4: A New Day

PART 5: Short Stories ch. 13

PART 6: Moving On

PART 7: More Short Stories, ch 2

PART 8: Short Stories chs. 14 – 36

PART 9: Stolen Earth AU

PART 10: Short Stories chs. 37 – 38

PART 11: Family Matters

PART 12: Short Stories chs. 39 – 41 58 – 61

PART 13: Blood Moon Rising

PART 14: Black Rose

PART 15: More Short Stories, ch. 1

PART 16: Welcome to Torchwood

PART 17: More Short Stories, ch 3

PART 18: More Short Stories ch 10

PART 19: More Short Stories ch 4-9

PART 20: Reunion

PART 21: Twelve Months

PART 22: Sam

And then, of course, the _Welshman_ chapters.

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Cavatina: The Ongoing Adventures of the **_**Bonny Welshman**_

Chapter 1

_**Give a boy address and accomplishments and you give him the mastery of palaces and fortunes where he goes.**_

_**--Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

Henry Fitzroy's gaze initially brushed casually over the handsome young spacer who strode into Bessie's as he stood talking to Katy at the hostess stand. And though a niggling in his subconscious brought his attention back to the newcomer after a moment, it was another long minute before he recognized the man who was grinning hugely at him, clearly enjoying Henry's failure to know him immediately.

"Kam?!?"

Gone was the awkward, timid, ragged, starving waif, long bangs hanging in his eyes, swimming in ill-fitting clothes, doing everything he could to remain unnoticed yet eager as a puppy for any kind attention. In his place stood an unbelievably handsome man, dressed in well-fitting typical spacer's garb, utility pants, work boots, a t-shirt which subtly advertised his nicely defined body, and a sharp jacket. Gone too were the tattoos from his wrists; from a few feet away, it didn't even look as if they'd left scars. His fashionable haircut could have used a trim, but really the slight shag just made Henry want to run his fingers through it. When last Henry had seen him, Kam had been a boy. He walked back into Bessie's a man.

"Good to see you, Henry. Jack sent me ahead to get a table. And to see if you have time to join us." Despite his confident greeting, Kam's crooked grin belied the image he presented just a bit. Henry realized that outside appearances notwithstanding, there was still a bit of the boy left, and he celebrated it.

Stepping forward, he pulled Kam into a tight embrace that was eagerly returned. The boy smelled good too, not exactly like Jack, but fresh and clean, with a hint of eucalyptus and cedar. Henry's light kiss on the lips flustered the younger man though, and rather than following it with another, as he had intended, he placed his second kiss on Kam's forehead.

"Welcome back. It looks like life is treating you well." He pulled away a bit, opening their circle to include the curiously watching young woman who had recently found her way into his bed, and his life. "Do you remember Katy?"

Kam nodded with another smile, reading the change in their relationship, but Katy looked at him blankly, not making the connection between the self-assured young spacer and the terrified street kid who had come looking for Jack Harkness four months before. Seeing her confusion, Henry grinned wider.

"Well, he didn't look exactly like this last time you saw him, love." He glanced around the pub. "We're going to be at that back table. Why don't you bring us," he looked to Kam for guidance, then, getting little help went on, "a pitcher of—do we still have some of that Chimay?"

"I think so. I'll go look."

"Otherwise, something else good. And three mugs, four if you'd like to join us. Captain Harkness will be here shortly."

Harkness was at the table, his arm loosely encircling the youngest man's waist, when Katy returned with three frosted mugs and a large pitcher of dark, rich tripel. As she approached the trio, she wondered if she'd ever again see three such perfectly spectacularly beautiful human beings—more or less human anyway—in a single place. Henry saw the mugs and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you'd like some time to visit alone with your friends. I may come by in a bit, if the captain and his young friend are still here," she explained matter-of-factly. "Captain, good to see you again."

He grinned at her, only mildly lasciviously. "And you, Miss Katy."

The men idly watched as she sauntered away, completely aware of the six eyes following her.

"So, Henry, I take it things have changed?"

"Hmmm. And not just with me, apparently. I didn't even recognize your young man when he walked in the door."

Jack turned his head and lovingly studied Kam for a moment.

"Not the same kid who signed on with Mr. Smeed," he agreed. But when he looked back at his oldest friend, Henry's eyes weren't on the younger man; they were on Jack.

"You found it, didn't you?" he asked softly.

Jack gazed at him curiously while Kam avidly looked back and forth between the two men.

"Henry?"

"Your crew, your—whatever it is that you've been looking for for so long. A place. A—center. Like when you ran Cardiff."

"If you're asking did I hire people on permanently, then the answer is 'yes'."

"And it looks like things are good with the two of you."

"Yes," Kam spoke for both of them, cuddling closer to Jack as he did. "They're good."

Henry gestured at the table and Kam slid into the booth, followed by Jack. Henry slid in opposite them and busied himself pouring three frosty mugs. Jack picked his mug up and took a long, deep draught, looking at Henry in surprise as he lowered the glass.

"Wow—that tastes like…"

Henry grinned at him.

"So you _do_ remember that week we spent in Belgium."

"If I didn't know that it was on the far side of the universe, if it even still exists, I would swear this came from the Chimay monastery."

"There's a little brewery on a planet not far from here. The guy specializes in recreating specialty brews from around the galaxy. He makes this. I can get you some for the ship."

Jack turned to Kam.

"Back on Earth, almost every culture had it's own brews. But the best beer in the world came from a country called Belgium. The best beers in Belgium were made by monks—men in religious orders. And my favourite of those was an ale called Chimay Tripel. It tasted, well, just like this."

He lifted his mug and gestured with it, suggesting that Kam should give it a taste. Kam was still far from a frequent drinker, but Jack had spent some of the last four months introducing him not just wine but also fine liquors, and his palate was far more sophisticated than it had been when he signed on to the Welshman. To date, beer hadn't figured in the lessons. Kam took up his own mug and took a careful sip.

"Like it?"

"Very much. It's a lot like wine."

Henry grinned. "But much more egalitarian. The monks notwithstanding. So how long are you here for this time?"

Jack shrugged. "A few days. I gave everyone twenty-four hours leave, then we sell off our haul, get what we need for the ship refit, and head back towards some interesting looking derelicts we passed on the way in."

"Have time to come over for dinner one of those nights?"

"'Dinner'?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow. Henry didn't eat.

"You know what I mean. I'm still a good cook."

Jack glanced back over at the hostess stand.

"Think you can get Katy to join us then?"

"Probably. As long as you're just talking about dinner." He glanced over at Kam. "Hey, Kam, mind giving us just a minute?"

The young man started to move away, but Jack stilled him with a hand on his arm.

"You can say whatever it is in front of him, Henry."

"You might want…"

"_Whatever_ it is."

"Okay, then. I ran into an old friend of yours here on Omega a few weeks ago. He's been asking around about you."

"An old friend?"

"Jack, it was Julian. Julian Kyle."

* * *

Chapter 2

_**Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, **_

_**something to love, and something to hope for.**_

_**--Joseph Addison**_

The first thing Lachlan McLean did upon disembarking from the _Bonny Welshman_, after giving Kai Jennings a quick kiss and arranging to meet him shortly in one of the station bars, was head for the Quartermaster's Office. He figured he owed Pete Davies a debt of gratitude and wanted to say "thank you" in person.

"_What a difference four months makes!_" he thought as he trod the familiar passages of the space station. Four months ago he'd been alone, still smarting from an actually not that recent break-up: broke, burned, and burned out. He'd had some friendly acquaintances, but very few he'd be willing to turn his back to when push came to shove (and come to think of it, both of those, Anna and Buddy, had joined him on the _Welshman_), certainly no one who would have given it a second thought if he'd dropped off the face of the earth. And he'd been exhausted down to his bones.

Since signing on with the _Welshman_, he'd probably gotten less actual sleep, but the spring which had been absent from his step for so long—years, probably—was back. He no longer went to bed aching every night, dreading waking in the morning, pulling himself up and to work only because he saw no alternative. These days he loved going into work. The autonomy Jack Harkness allowed him, and the clear appreciation of his efforts from both the captain and crew inspired him to do his best to provide them all with a variety of healthy and delicious meals. He had friends, people with whom to spend his leisure time—he had leisure time!--who ever would have thought that on a beat up old salvage ship like the Welshman they'd have leisure time?—and he was well on his way to falling in love.

As he walked, he thought back to the conversation he'd had with the Captain a few days out from Omega. He and Kai had hesitantly tracked Harkness down in his office.

"Captain?"

He'd looked up from the reports he'd been reviewing.

"Mr. McLean, Mr. Jennings. What can I do for you?"

Kai had taken the lead.

"Sir, we wanted to talk to you about crew quarters."

Harkness had raised an eyebrow, inviting him to continue.

"Mr. Smeed mentioned that, with people signing on for long term contracts, he was planning on turning some of the storage rooms back into living quarters. So people could have their own cabins."

"That's the plan, yes."

"Well, we were wondering, that is, we thought… Mr. McLean and I, well, if it's all the same to you, we'd be happy to share quarters."

"Surely you needn't come to me to discuss sharing a cabin, gentlemen."

"No," Lach had picked up the conversation, "but then we were thinking... I was thinking—" he amended, "Well, preserved fruits and vegetables are adequate for food preparation on short missions. But if we're really going to be a real crew, a permanent crew, maybe we don't want to be so dependent on having to restock food stores all the time. And people get tired of not having truly fresh produce. We're a long way out in space, and some fresh vegetables might make a big difference."

"Your point being?"

"So, I was thinking, if I wasn't going to be using that cabin to live in, maybe you'd let me turn it into a hydroponics garden. So I could grow a lot of our food. I know we can't afford to get the real equipment, but I'm really handy. You'd be surprised what I can do with some vats, racks and a couple of grow lights. And no matter what people try, there's no way to preserve or reproduce a tomato so that it tastes like it came off of the vine. Besides, with our meat synthesizer and a garden, we could basically feed ourselves indefinitely. Not that we won't still want supplies, but we could survive, if we needed to."

Jack had looked at him speculatively.

"All right, Mr. McLean," he'd answered finally. "We've had a good haul this trip, and while I haven't heard from _everyone_ yet, most of you have opted for a lower cut and long term contract. You write up a list of all the equipment you want. Not just your vats and grow lights, but the real thing. A wish list. What it would take for the set up you'd _like_ to have. I can't guarantee we'll be able to get everything, but Mr. Smeed is a resourceful man, and there isn't much that can't be found in one form or another on Omega. Maybe you can find time to go with him on his scouting mission, help him look. And come see me before you head out—I'll give you money for seeds or plants or whatever you want to start the garden. As well as for food supplies. I'm handing responsibility for stocking the larder over to you. Mr. Smeed will provide you with the records of what he usually gets, but you have free rein. Just make sure you get plenty of decent coffee beans. And pineapple." He paused. "We'll be on Omega for a few days. The first twenty-four hours I'm giving everyone liberty. Enjoy yourselves. You'll have plenty of time to do the ship's shopping before we head out again."

So it was with a light step that Lach entered Pete Davies office. The older man glanced up and frowned when he saw who had stepped through the door.

"Lach. Is everything all right? I didn't expect to see you back for another two months."

Pete held his breath, awaiting the answer. He'd taken a real leap of faith in recommending that people sign on with the _Welshman_, and was hoping against hope that he'd not misled them.

"Oh, no," McLean reassured him quickly, accurately interpreting the trepidation in Davies' eyes, if not the underlying reason for his worry. "Everything's fine. We had a big haul, filled the cargo holds early, so we came back to sell off the scrap and refill our stores. I just came by to thank you for recommending me to Captain Harkness. And to ask if you know where I might find a good selection of vegetable seeds and seedlings." He held out his hand, and Pete shook it, the wariness still not completely gone from his expression.

"So, things are good aboard the _Welshman_?"

"Yeah. In fact, the captain offered us all long-term contracts. And we're refitting the ship to give everyone who wants them private quarters. As far as I know, everyone's signing on."

"Including Anna?" Davies knew that her long-term plans had not involved life on a salvage ship. She'd signed on to the Welshman in order to earn a big enough stake to set up somewhere on a backwater planet. He'd been most hesitant about suggesting her to Smeed. Her, and An Cho.

"Yeah, sure, including Anna. I'm sure she'll be by sometime while we're here. I know she wants to see you. You should see—she's turned the infirmary into a real clinic. Not that anyone's been really hurt or sick, thank goodness, at least not yet, but we're pretty well stocked, everyone's had a complete physical, and she keeps an eye out—makes sure everyone is eating right, getting enough exercise. She's a great doctor, Pete. Plus," he lowered his voice conspiratorially, "I think she has a thing for Jim Smeed."

* * *

Chapter 3

_**Don't you stay at home of evenings? Don't you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?**_

_**--Oliver Wendell Holmes**_

"Tom," Leah Ali asked at breakfast, "what do you want to do on Omega during liberty?"

His coffee mug had frozen in midair, halfway to his lips.

"Why? Do you have a proposal?" He paused, then grinned suggestively, lowering his voice, "or a proposition?" She punched his arm gently.

"You've been spending too much time around Captain Harkness, Tom Chibnall! I just thought, I mean, I wanted to know…" She stopped, then met his eyes seriously. "I don't know much about Omega Station, but after what happened to Kam last time… If that's any part of what passes for entertainment there… And it's not like we know anyone here. Not like most of the crew. No friends to catch up with…"

"It's a huge space station, Leah. Lots to do. Restaurants, stores. We could go shopping. I could buy you something."

"We don't have our split yet," she reminded him. "I don't know about you, but I'm broke." His rueful expression acknowledged his similar economic state.

"So what were you thinking?"

"I thought—well, maybe we could mostly stay on the Welshman. We'd probably have the ship to ourselves. Might be kind of nice…"

"You want to go out to eat at least, don't you? Carsten can tell us a good place to get dinner, or Buddy. It would be nice to have one meal that wasn't prepared out of ship's stores, no matter what miracles Lach produces."

"You think space station stores are any better?"

"At least it'll be different. And who knows how long it will be before we have a chance to get off the Welshman again. I don't mind if we spend the rest of the time on the ship, but I would like to take you out to eat, at least once."

"Okay, I guess that sounds nice. Do you want to ask Carsten where we should go, or should I?"


	2. Part 2

Chapter 4

_**Earth laughs in flowers.**_

_**--Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

"So, while you're on Omega, going to hook up with any old friends?" Jim Smeed asked with practiced casualness. That Anna had been willing to sign on for the long haul on the Welshman, along with a few gentle kisses, had given him some assurance that what he was feeling wasn't entirely one-sided, but he still believed he was on unsteady footing where she was concerned. Mostly, he just couldn't see what this young woman--gorgeous, brilliant and oh, so kind--could possibly want with an aged cranky spacer like him. But want him she apparently did, and he thanked his lucky starts for that. It still didn't give him confidence that as soon as she stepped off of the Welshman that she wouldn't decide that some spell had been cast on her, and take off running as fast as she could.

"Actually, I have a few things in storage I thought I'd bring aboard. No point in leaving them here any longer, is there?"

He smiled at her.

"Like some help carrying and unpacking?"

She brushed a quick kiss across his lips.

"I thought you'd never ask." She paused. "I wouldn't mind buying Pete Davies a drink after we finish."

"Do I have competition?" he asked, trying to make the question sound teasing, not desperate, despite the sudden ache in the pit of his stomach. Despite his best efforts, Raynor read the real fear in his eyes. She reached out a hand and gently traced the lines of his face.

"Jim—I just want to thank him for giving me the best advice I've gotten in a very, very long time. And no, you don't have any competition, not on Omega or anywhere else. I'm not prone to play games. If I didn't want to be with you, if I were pining for someone else, well, then, we wouldn't be together."

"Are we? Together?" He held his breath waiting for the answer. Anna searched his eyes, then flashed him the most blinding smile he'd ever seen before rapidly bringing her lips to his in a deep, burning, branding kiss which had as little in common with the gentle butterflies they'd exchanged as a hurricane with a breeze. Long moments passed before they broke off to catch their breath.

"That answer your question, Jimmy?" she panted.

He reached out and ran a thumb over her full lips.

"Doc, I think we'd better go get your things and get you moved aboard permanently before you change your mind." But this time the smile in his voice reached his eyes.

* * *

Chapter 5

_**Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; **_

_**and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.**_

_**--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**_

The last thing in the universe that An Cho had any interest in doing was renewing acquaintances with people on Omega Station. What few possessions she had, a couple of photos, a birth certificate, a small charm on a thin chain, were too precious to have been left in storage, so they were already tucked away in her cabin. Until Harkness distributed their cuts, she had little more than pocket change—which made shopping out of the question, even if she were so inclined. And she assumed Liza would be spending liberty on the station. So she would have her cabin, and most likely the ship, to herself.

She was just passing his cabin door when Buddy Garrison stepped out into the corridor right in front of her. Their collision was unavoidable, inevitable. He knocked her off of her feet; she would have fallen had he not grabbed her and held her upright.

"Hey, steady there. You all right?"

An looked away, not meeting his eyes, and it occurred to Buddy how little he knew of the quiet, private communications officer. The fact that they were on different shifts did limit their interactions a bit, but over the last few months he'd come to know almost everyone else on the crew pretty well, regardless of shift. Initially he wondered if she were bothered by his bionics, but as far as he could tell she maintained the same distance from everyone. Except maybe Anneka, and she was as difficult to avoid as a four-month-old puppy.

The invitation escaped his lips before he'd actually formulated a plan to extend it.

"Hey, An--Avi, Liza and I were going to go and get a drink at a place I know. Why don't you come with us?"

She started to demure, but he interrupted her.

"Seriously. I'll even buy. Come with us. If he thinks anyone isn't going out and having a good time, Captain Harkness is going to want to know why."

Garrison had meant the comment as a joke, cajoling. But he couldn't miss the frisson of fear that flashed in Cho's eyes. For some reason, the last thing she wanted was to attract the attention of the captain.

"Okay. Thanks."

"We're meeting at the ramp. You need anything from your cabin, or are you ready to go?"

_What did he think she might need from her cabin? Especially if he was buying? _Mostly she wanted to get the mandatory social outing over with, the sooner, the better.

"I'm ready. Let's get out of here."

* * *

Chapter 6

_**There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love, **_

_**the first fluttering of its silken wings.**_

_**--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**_

"Roberta?" Carsten Weiss stuck his head into the engine room, looking for his friend. The crew was on liberty for the next twenty-four hours, no duties, no responsibilities, and the only member of the crew he'd _not_ laid eyes on was the one he was hoping to spend the lion's share of the time with.

"Carsten? That you?" The voice was muffled, and squeezed its way out from under a big piece of equipment he couldn't have identified if his life depended on it.

"Yeah, it's me. Where are you anyway?"

"I'm under here." She stuck her head out and he was struck, not for the first time, how much more appealing she was dressed in overalls with grease smudges on her face than the other women he knew were when they were dressed to the nines.

"Hey, you."

She smiled up at him.

"Hey."

"So, you planning on spending our whole day's liberty hip deep in the engine? Or is there a chance I might entice you out for a stroll around Omega? I don't think you got much of a tour when you were here the last time."

"Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Weiss?"

"And if I were, Ms. Tolbert?"

"I might be persuaded…"

"Do I hear an 'if' in that answer?"

"Give me time to take a shower?"

"Of course."

"Buy me dinner?"

"Also, of course."

"Then—yes."

"How much time do you need to get ready?"

"That depends," she answered, pulling herself out from under the engine.

"On what?" he asked, reaching down to help her to her feet.

"On whether or not you'd like to join me in the shower."

* * *

Chapter 7

_**I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.**_

_**--Thomas Paine**_

Lach McLean found Kai uncomfortably waiting in the very back booth of the restaurant they'd agreed on.

"I thought we were meeting at the bar," he commented neutrally.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't that much fun up there. So…"

Lach slid in next to Kai and pulled him into a loose embrace.

"Why not, Sweetie?"

The younger man shot an uneasy look at the boisterous crowd at the bar. "They weren't that welcoming. Especially after I mentioned that I was waiting for my friend."

Lach stared at him in disbelief. He'd chosen the restaurant because it had been a hang out of his when he'd lived on the station. Even now, he saw a scattering of familiar faces at the tables and around the bar.

"Are you kidding me?"

McLean wouldn't have thought it was possible that Kai could appear smaller and more miserable than he had a minute earlier, but he did. The older man looked over at the group by the bar. He started to rise.

"Please, Lach—don't. Let's just get out of here."

Lach studied his lover, conflicting impulses warring within him. Finally, his desire to comfort Kai, to make him happy won out over the craving to pummel the homophobic asses who had intimidated the man who had come to mean so much to him.

"Okay, baby. Let's find some place else to get something to eat."

He hauled himself out of the booth, then held out a hand to help Kai slide out.

"What do you feel like? There's a pretty good curry place not too far away. Fancy a curry and a pint?"

"Sure. That sounds good." He could hear Kai's bluster as he straightened his shoulders in anticipation of walking back past the crowd at the bar. Lach bent over and whispered in his ear.

"Don't waste any energy on those idiots, Sweetie. They're not worth your time. You're worth a hundred of any one of them. And I love you."

"I love you too, Lach," but the exchange brought more tears welling in Kai's eyes instead of fewer as McLean had hoped.

"Hey, come on, Kai. It's all right…" and he pulled the younger man into his arms for a quick hug. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go find a curry and a pint."

The pair started working their way across the crowded restaurant. Just as they were passing the group who had been harassing Kai prior to his lover's arrival, a man at the bar looked up and called to them.

"Lach! Lach McLean! Where've you been, you old dog! Lach! Over here!" Lachlan flashed Kai an apologetic look and turned reluctantly toward the persistent man.

"Hey, Joe. How's it hanging?"

"Where the hell have you been, man? I haven't see you in months!"

"I signed on with a salvage ship. We're just back at the station to unload our cargo and restock our supplies."

"And who is your friend?"

McLean reached out and took Jenning's hand. "Joe, Kai. Kai, Joe." He made the introductions perfunctory.

"But Joe, we've got to get going. I promised Kai a curry and a pint. I'll see you…" As quick and quiet as he'd tried to keep the conversation, however, it seemed inevitable that it would catch the attention of the very thugs at the bar he and Kai had been trying so hard to avoid.

"Hey, boys, look who's back. And this time he brought a friend…" leered one of the men. The bartender caught sight of what was going on, and accurately assessed the situation in a split second.

"Hey, Lach!" he called out to his former regular. "Heard you signed on with the _Bonny Welshman_. What's it like serving under Captain Harkness?" He made sure his words carried clearly. And then, just in case the toughs at his bar were the only people on Omega who didn't know the story, he continued, "I have to say, the idea of serving under someone who would KILL men for beating up one of his crew members is kind of appealing…"

Recognizing what his friend was doing, McLean flashed him a grateful look.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be on Harkness' bad side, that's for sure," he replied. "He might be along in a few. We've been out in space for a while. Tell me, Andy, did they ever find that last body?"

"Come to think of it, no, I don't think they have," the bartender replied, then turned back to the crowd. "I asked you idiots to finish your drinks and leave when you _first_ started harassing my customers. You've had plenty of time, so I'm not requesting any more. Get the hell out of here, and don't come back." After giving them a fierce look, he turned his attention back to McLean as the grumbling mob put down their glasses and headed for the door.

"Curry and a pint, Lach? Sure I can't talk you into a seat at the bar? Marge has a fresh pot of chili on, and it'll peel paint off the side of a barn. Good stuff. Corn bread too, with honey. On the house. I told those turkeys to find somewhere else to drink when they started bothering your friend, but I should have pushed harder and gotten them out faster. Let me make it up to you both?"

* * *

Chapter 8

_**It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.**_

_**--Oliver Wendell Holmes**_

Pete Davies was locking the door to the Quartermaster's office when he was hailed from behind.

"Pete. Can we buy you a beer?"

He turned to face Jim Smeed and Anna Raynor. They'd completed moving Anna's scant possessions onto the ship before seeking out the man who was responsible for putting together their crew. The small stack of boxes had driven home for the First Officer once again just how much the doctor had given up over the past few years.

"The Welshman's early return is the talk of the station," Davies commented, by way of greeting. Smeed shrugged.

"Good haul. The holds were full. We have to unload everything before we head back out."

"So I heard. Also that you hired the whole crew on permanent."

"That the rumour too?"

"Don't know about that. I heard it from Lach McLean. He came by to thank me for recommending him to you."

"I'm here on a similar mission," Smeed replied. "Damned fine cook. Damned fine crew, actually, top to bottom. You did well by us. Which is why I want to buy you a drink."

Pete looked over at Anna.

"And you?"

"Me? I just came by to give you this," and Anna leaned over and kissed him softly on the cheek.

* * *

Chapter 9

_**A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.**_

_**--Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

It was a congenial group that made their way through the space station, heading for a popular pub Buddy Garrison had frequented while living on Omega. Avi, Liza and Buddy chatted, commenting on the stores and landmarks they passed, comparing notes on their lives on the station. An walked with them, but appeared oblivious to the conversation, and didn't participate.

Buddy was surprised to spot Anneke Strickson standing at the bar in conversation with a pair of spacers as soon as he led his little group into the pub. She'd ducked off the ship early, before he'd had a chance to offer an invitation to her to join him and the rest of the "single" members of the crew. He generally made an effort to include her, figuring that as the youngest on the ship, she might not always feel comfortable joining in otherwise.

"Hey, look who's here!" He glanced around, spotted a big open table in the back and waved at her.

"Anneke! We're going to be over there! Come join us?" The pub was noisy, but he'd yelled loudly enough to get her attention, and that combined with his gestures must have gotten his message across because she met his eyes with a smile and nodded at him. He led the rest of his little flock through the crowd to the back, clapping a hand on the shoulder of a server who greeted him with surprised pleasure and promised to be over to take orders in just a minute. Liza's eyes were gleaming with approval as she gazed around the establishment, which managed to exude a warm and welcoming homey atmosphere despite the boisterous crowd. Avi had mentioned being familiar with the place when Buddy had proposed it, and waved across the crowd at an acquaintance, turning down his gestured invitation to join him with a smile and shake of his head. Buddy glanced over at An Cho and again was struck by his inability to fathom any of what was going on in her head.

But when after a few minutes, Anneke still hadn't made it over to their table, Buddy looked around for her, finally locating her in essentially the same place she'd been when they first entered, only now she stood with her back hard against the bar, surrounded by the same handful of spacers, several clearly not the better for the drinks they'd had. In the chaos of the crowded pub, her situation had gone unnoticed by anyone else in the bar

He leaned over and said into Liza's ear, "Be right back!"

He gestured towards Anneke. Liza looked back and correctly interpreted the situation. When Buddy got up to leave, Stasi gave her a questioning look. She leaned over and yelled over the crowd noise, "He went to get Anneke."

Stasi too turned his attention to the bar, and watching her companions, An Cho did the same. They were watching as Buddy approached the group, watching as he joined the circle, clearly amiable, watching as he addressed Anneke who was now looking a bit frightened, watching as he raised his hands, attempting to defuse the rapidly escalating conversation, watching as one of the other spacers threw the first punch.

"That's our cue," Liza proclaimed as she vaulted over the seat and headed for the fray, Stasi hot on her heels. It was a full-blown fight by the time they arrived. Buddy was struggling to keep Anneke behind him when his companions jumped in.

"Liza! Watch out!" he warned, but as she turned, the spacer who was coming for her crumpled to the ground. Behind him, An Cho held up the heavy stein she'd used to clock the guy. The slight smile that pulled at the corners of her lips was still in place when station security arrived to break up the squirmish and haul the participants off to the brig.


	3. Part 3

AN--Reviews make the chapters go up faster... ;-)

sr

* * *

Chapter 10

_**Hitch your wagon to a star.**_

_**--Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

Shortly after they'd settled at a table, Jim Smeed excused himself to go say "hello" to an old acquaintance—"friend of Jack's, you know. Better go see what he's up to…"-- and, idly watching him leave, Pete Davies said softly, "You seem happy, Anna."

His comment startled her. She had long ago stopped evaluating her life in those terms. Happy, unhappy. Long time since there'd been more to life than surviving, getting through the day.

"She's a good ship, Pete. Good Captain, good crew. We're respected, treated decently. A lot is expected, but a lot is given in return. And the Captain never asks anyone to do anything he's not willing to do himself. He puts his shoulder to the grindstone right along side everyone else. Pulls salvage, cuts materials, takes the extra shift…"

He laughed, disbelievingly.

"You are talking about the _Bonny Welshman_, aren't you? Captain Jack Harkness?"

"I am."

"I know people who've served on the _Welshman_ for six months and never laid eyes on the captain. Unless he propositioned them. I thought Lach was sugar-coating things when he came to see me this morning, although he looked good too—content, you know? Now I'm wondering just what it is Harkness uses to spike the Kool Aid on that ship."

"We don't drink Kool Aid, Pete," Jim replied, walking behind him on his way back to the table, "the _Bonny Welshman_ runs almost exclusively on coffee."

"And good coffee too," Anna added. "The best I've ever tasted."

"Damned magical is what that stuff is," Smeed agreed.

Pete studied them seriously for a moment, the shook his head, laughing in amazement, glad that against all reason he'd agreed to Jim Smeed's request. Raising his glass he toasted, "Well, then… To the crew of the _Bonny Welshman_!"

* * *

Chapter 11

_**If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.**_

_**--Thomas Paine**_

Station Security tracked Jack down in Bessie's, just as he and Kam were about to head for a bookstore that Henry was telling them about.

"Capt. Harkness."

Jack looked around with a huge grin.

"Lieutenant Chavez! May I say you are looking gorgeous today!" The young woman flushed at the compliment as Harkness turned his attention to her partner. "And Tommy Jones! Are those lieutenant's bars I see on your shoulder as well? Congratulations! Now, what can I do for you kids?"

"Sir," the now also blushing Jones replied, "there's been a little altercation involving some members of the _Welshman_'s crew."

The smile left Jack's face.

"Everyone okay?"

"Oh, yes, sir. It was just a bar brawl, and not started by your people, but we had to haul them all down to the brig and—well, we thought you might want to come down and bail them out."

Jack eyed Kam reluctantly. He'd so been looking forward to a real "day off" with his lover. In a similar situation with any crew he'd had over the last couple of centuries, he would have left them to stew, maybe left them behind when the ship pulled out, but that was then and this was now, and he had people to bail out of jail. Kam met his gaze with understanding.

"Don't worry about it, Jack. I'll go on to the book store and you can meet me there."

Still Jack hesitated. The memory of what had happened the last time Kam had wandered out of Bessie's alone still haunted him.

"I'll show him the way, Jack. It can be kind of hard to find," Henry offered. Seeing Kam's acceptance of the plan in his eyes, Jack agreed and headed off with security.

Kam sighed as he watched him go.

"Life with Jack Harkness is never boring," Henry stated knowingly, remembering.

"No, not dull. But he makes up for it in other ways."

"I'll say. Five hundred years later, and I haven't forgotten that."

* * *

"So," Jack asked the security officers, "What happened?"

"A couple of guys off of one of the Mining Corp. ships had a little too much to drink, took a shine to one of your crew, wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and the rest of your people who were in the bar went to extract her. They didn't throw the first punch, but I guess they put down the other guys pretty effectively."

"And why is it that _MY_ guys are in the brig?"

Jones looked at Jack reproachfully.

"Captain, you know very well we have a zero tolerance policy for brawling. They're ALL in the brig."

"Separately," Chavez clarified. "Didn't want the fight to break out again while they were in custody. Especially not with the big guy. He probably could have taken them all on single-handedly."

Musing, Jack followed the two officers into security headquarters. Greeting several of the other officers by name, Jack passed through with the officers, heading back into the detention area. He wasn't really sure what he'd expected to find there, but it certainly wasn't the line up of An Cho, Buddy Garrison, Anneke Strickson, Avi Stasi and Liza Fielding sitting shoulder to shoulder companionably on a long, thin bench, arms over shoulders, singing an old labour song from a long since forgotten planet. They looked towards the door as he entered and stood gazing at them.

"Well, kids," he said finally, "You ready to go home?"

* * *

Chapter 12

_**Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.**_

_**--David Herbert Lawrence**_

"Tom!" Leah whispered in his ear, "there are candles on the table. Are you sure we can afford this place?"

She was dressed in her cleanest clothes, the ones with the fewest patches. Hardly formalwear, but Tom thought she looked lovely. When he'd gone to Buddy for advice on a restaurant, the salvager had actually slipped him some money. "Just until we get paid, you idiot," the big man had warned as Tom started to refuse. "Take your girl and have a good time." And against his better judgment, Tom had accepted the loan.

So here they were now, in one of the nicer restaurants on the station—the nicest restaurant Tom had ever been in, actually—about to have a late lunch. Or early dinner. Or maybe it was breakfast—shifts on the ship didn't actually line up with those on the station, and even if it had, Tom and Leah's schedules had them running opposite each other. A meal. They were there to have a real meal out. With tablecloths, and candles on the table.

"Order what you want, seriously. Buddy fronted me the money. So let's just have a good time."

A waiter let them to a central table, and left them with elegant menus and a wine list. Leah glanced at the wine list and recognized one of the more moderately priced bottles.

"Kam was telling me about the captain introducing him to wine. I remember this name. He really liked this one." She showed Tom. "Should we try it?"

When Tom ordered the wine, the waiter flashed them a real smile.

"I see you know your vino. That's the best wine we sell, but almost no one orders it because it isn't as famous a name. The more expensive the wines, the better they sell. Unless you actually know something about it."

Leah smiled back.

"Do you have any recommendations for something on the menu that would go well with that wine? Our friend Buddy recommended this restaurant, but he didn't suggest any particular dishes."

"Buddy? Buddy Garrison?" She nodded. "You should have said you were friends of Buddy when you arrived!" He eyed them, contemplating.

"Any particular food preferences? Likes or dislikes?"

Tom and Leah met each other's eyes. Both had grown up on the fringes, worked on freighters, salvage ships. One ate what one was fed. Food preferences were luxuries of the better off. Tom answered for both of them.

"No, no real preferences."

"Then would you leave yourselves in my hands? I promise I won't break the bank, and that you'll have a meal you'll never forget."

The food was everything he promised and more—small sampler plates of so many exotic dishes that Tom and Leah lost count. So many foods neither had ever seen before, and each more delicious than the last. Near the end of the evening, the chef came out to visit with them.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself. It would never do to disappoint friends of Buddy's. How is he? We've not seen him in here in a few months."

"He's well. We serve on the same ship. Buddy is one of our engineers," Chibnall volunteered.

"He's a good man, Buddy Garrison. We miss him around here. Please give him our best, would you?" He stood, and held out a hand to Tom. "I certainly hope the two of you have saved room for dessert. I still have a few treats headed your way."

* * *

Chapter 13

_**Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.**_

_**--Walt Whitman**_

Roberta wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when Carsten agreed to buy her dinner, but it certainly hadn't been the Nebula Café. Located at the very top of the station, the café's walls and ceiling were all translucent, providing a huge panoramic view, including a spectacular nebula off to one side.

"Wow!"

"Like being right out in space, isn't it? Without a space suit."

"Amazing."

"And the food is almost as good. Just soup and sandwiches and stuff, but good."

The hostess came to seat them and Carsten requested a table with a good view of the nebula.

"Who ever would have guessed there was something like this on Omega?" Roberta breathed.

"It's a big station. There's plenty every bit as dirty and desperate as you imagine, but this is the last outpost. And not just for people who live on the fringes, struggle to get by. Everyone stops here, including the wealthy, cruise ships, colonists, occasionally Empire ships. There has to be something to meet the needs of every market." He paused. "Not like I could really afford this place when I lived here, but I managed to put a little away, and with the cut we're going to get of this cargo—figured I could splurge a little."

"It's just beautiful, Carsten. Thank you!"

He grinned at her, only the hint of anxiety in his eyes betraying the seriousness of his question.

"I've never really taken a girl on a date before, you know. Not a real one, not like this. I'm doing okay so far?"

In answer, she leaned across the table and gave him a gentle kiss.

"You can take me out any time, Spacer. Any time."

* * *

Chapter 14

_**We loved with a love that was more than love.**_

_**--Edgar Allan Poe**_

If Jack had worried that Kam would be uncomfortable walking the broad corridors of Omega, he would have been mistaken. He'd caught up with his lover at the bookstore as planned, browsed for a while, and then they'd headed out. The younger man practically bounced along beside him as they made their way through the shopping district, wandering from display to display. In a few days, their cargo would be sold and the crew would all have money in their pockets. It was no coincidence that Jack allowed them liberty BEFORE paying everyone. He found that spacers with money in their pockets made it back to the ship significantly poorer, and he wanted to make sure that if or when any of his crewmembers decided to leave the _Welshman_, he or she did so with enough of a stake to set up somewhere. But that didn't keep people from window-shopping. Kam was just enjoying being off of the ship, doing something _normal _with Jack. Something domestic. And he appeared to have put Henry's intelligence out of his mind, at least for the moment. He and Henry at chatted on their way to the bookstore, but the name Julian Kyle had not been mentioned.

"What do you think of that, Jack? How would I look in that?"

Jack paused, imaging for a minute how the formal outfit would caress and accentuate his lover's slim form. His mind flew back to another time, another man, and how much he'd loved Yan's suits. He opened his mouth to make a lascivious comment, leaving no doubt what he thought about it when—his wrist strap beeped. Kam stared at it open mouthed.

"That never beeps," he commented softly.

"I was thinking the same thing," Harkness replied, caught in the dual moment, hearing the echo of Ianto's voice layering over Kam's, remembering the disasters which had followed that time the strap had sounded, centuries earlier. And his recent coming to terms with the loss he suffered the last time John had contacted him. He shook his head and gave Kam an apologetic look. So much for the carefree afternoon. They headed back to the ship then. It was not the time or place to be observed receiving trans-temporal messages by unknown audiences. Jack invited Kam to his office while he watched the transmission, but Kam shook his head.

"Watch it first, then decide what you want me to know. I'm going to take a shower and get ready for dinner, in case we're still going out. You know where to find me when you're ready."

Jack locked the door behind Kam then sat for a minute, putting off retrieving the message. Whatever it was, whomever it was from, he was quite certain he wasn't going to like it. Finally, when he could delay no more, he pushed a button and started the recording. And found that it was even less welcome than he'd imagined.

* * *

Kam looked up from where he was reading on the couch as Jack entered the cabin. Studying his expression, he commented neutrally, "So, I take it dinner is off?"

"Sorry, Kam. Take a rain check?"

The younger man looked at him, not comprehending.

"It's—a reference to a ticket people used to get for outside events that were cancelled by the weather. It means, we'll do it later, I promise."

"Okay. What now?"

"I need to find Jim and Anna. Then I want to talk to the four of you. See what you think we should do…"

* * *

Chapter 15

_**It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.**_

_**--Albus Dumbledore**_

Jim Smeed pulled Jack aside as soon as he and the medic entered the Captain's quarters.

"Jack, on Omega—I ran into Julian Kyle. He said he'd been looking for you."

"Yeah, Henry said he showed up a few weeks ago. He tell you want he wanted?"

Smeed shook his head. "Just that he wanted to see you. Knowing him, he probably wants something."

"Well, then, he's just going to have to wait. First things first," and he gestured towards the seating area. Kam distributed mugs of coffee around the sitting room as Jim Smeed and Doc Raynor took places on the couch, then sat in the open armchair. Jack paced in the small space, waiting for everyone to get settled.

"I've received a transmission," he announced finally, turning to face the trio, "asking for our help. But it could be dangerous, and I'm not going to take the risk unless all three of you are in agreement."

Accustomed to generally being in Jack's confidence, Jim Smeed nodded once, waiting for the details, but Anna and Kam looked at Jack in amazement. This was a command decision, wasn't it? Why was their input required?

"Sir?" Anna inquired, her question clearly readable on her face.

"Doctor, you and Mr. Smeed are the other two senior officers on this ship. But more than that, this mission has the potential to attract the attention of the "Great and Bountiful" and that puts you at a particular risk. Whether or not to take that chance is not a decision I'm willing to make on your behalf. And as for you," he turned to Kam, whose question reverberated just as clearly, even if unspoken, "there may be things I've not told you yet, but I have no secrets from you, and I will not make decisions that could affect your life, our life, without discussing them with you. Your rank on this ship notwithstanding, you have equal authority in our relationship."

"Sir, this request, it's from—" and then Anna paused, unsure what Jack had said to Kam, or for that matter, Jim, about his involvement with the organization that had rescued her. Jim knew her part of the story, but she'd not identified the group, nor Jack's connection to it.

"It's okay, Anna. You can say it. I have no secrets in this room."

"--Torchwood?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm in."

"Maybe you should wait until you hear the details."

"Sir, a number of people risked their lives and freedom to save me. If I can return the favour, surely it's worth the risk."

"Remember as you say that, Doc, that we aren't just making the decision for ourselves, we're making it for the crew. Certainly your risk is the greatest, and Jim and I could find ourselves on the wrong side of a pick axe on a chain gang, but while probably it will be clear that the crew were duped by us, just following orders, you know the GBHE—there are no guarantees. So be very sure when you give your answer."

Kam looked back and forth between them, waiting for explanations. While Jack had mentioned Torchwood briefly in passing, he'd not told Kam about in detail and had not said anything about Anna's situation, believing the story was hers to tell when and if she wanted. He looked at her now, questioning, letting her decide what she wanted to tell Kam. The doctor eyed him momentarily, her expression unreadable, then turned to the curious younger man.

"I was sentenced to death because I was providing free care to people living on the fringes. Torchwood broke me out, helped me escape, got me forged identity papers. That's why I reacted so strongly when I saw your pendant. I had a different name, it was a long way from here. But if I were in custody, they would have no trouble establishing my old identity. I would be executed if I were caught."

Kam looked back to Jack, fingering the metal disk that hung around his neck.

"Were you involved in helping her escape?"

"No. It was just the ebbs and flows of the universe, of fate, that brought us to the same place at the same time. Coincidence."


	4. Part 4

Chapter 16

_**Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. **_

_**It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.**_

_**--Gilbert K. Chesterton**_

"I got a message. From Torchwood. A group of colonists out here on one of the fringe planets has found an alien artefact. A very powerful artefact. The colonists don't know what it is, how to use it. But word has leaked out to the GBHE, and they do. I've dealt with something similar before. The damage they could do… It's unimaginable. Our one advantage is that apparently they don't know exactly where the artefact is."

"And we do?" asked Anna.

"And we do. There's an old interstellar freighter crash on the planet not far from the settlement. Nothing actually left there that's worth anything, but it should give us a plausible cover story. Recovering the relic will have to fall on the four of us. I won't ask anyone to unknowingly taking the risk." He glanced around at his little audience. "Thoughts?"

"I already told you that I'm in," Anna answered quickly.

"This is not a decision to make lightly."

"If it weren't for people willing to take this kind of chance for me, I'd be dead. Just because I'm not dithering or perseverating doesn't mean I make this decision lightly."

"Jim?"

"If your Torchwood saved Anna, I guess I owe them one. Besides, it's nice being on the side of the angels for a change."

"Kam?"

"If you think it's worth the risk, Jack, then I do too."

"All right. So let's take a look at the star charts… And we need to get the crew back on board."

* * *

Chapter 17

_**The only certain freedom's in departure.**_

_**--Robert Frost**_

Captain Jack Harkness looked around the bridge of his ship with a sense of wonderment.

"_What a difference four months makes!_" he thought to himself. "_A hundred and twenty days, more or less. A drop of water in the ocean of time._" The stations were manned by nearly the same people as they had been the last time they pulled out of Omega. Kai Jennings had been moved to "day" shift where he was learning the ins and outs of the communications console. He wasn't the communications officer Cho was, and maybe never would be, but he was doing a good enough job, just as Tom was becoming a more than adequate pilot. Nothing like the skills and talent Kam had, but plenty good enough, especially to serve under Smeed's steady watchful eye. Rumour had it that An Cho had once held a Proper Certification for that position, something that made her skills at that station less surprising, but raised further the mystery as to how she had ended up living on the fringes of space.

One of the other changes the captain made to adjust to having a permanent crew, was to set up a rota by which Leah and Anneke, along with Avi and Liza, when available, rotated through the various positions so that whenever possible, each crew member, except for himself, Mr. Smeed and the doctor, had regular shifts when he or she was off duty. And if he tweaked things a bit, so that, for example, Mr. Weiss and Ms. Tolbert were occasionally off at the same time, well, no one was going to comment.

But while Stasi and Ali were both on the bridge at the moment, the rest of the night crew were all at their stations as well. No one wanted to miss the departure from Omega. It felt good to be back on board, good to be heading out again, no one else, just the crew, even after their abbreviated stop. "Crew". What a word! If Jack had had any doubts, they'd been erased when he'd bailed out the group—including An Cho!--from the security detention centre. The first thing Buddy Garrison had said to him when he approached the cell where they were incarcerated was "All for one, one for all," and he had said it with a grin the size of a small planet.

None of which prevented the suspicious looks he'd gotten from almost everyone when he announced they were heading out again on a short job before the cargo was sold, without anyone being paid. But Smeed's assurances combined with the trust they'd developed over the last four months had limited the reaction to a little quiet grumbling, and his promise of an increased one percent share in the profits of this last haul had settled even that.

"Maybe this will all amount to nothing," he told the crew, "but it's a pretty big wreck, and the Empire is about to survey the planet, so it's now or never. Besides, it's on the surface—we may never get an opportunity for as easy a salvage again, if there is anything there worth taking."

"Any questions about the legality of salvaging this ship?" Weiss had asked.

"Always. But no more in this case than any other."

"Well, then, you've given me no reason to distrust you up until now, Sir. I'm on board."

"Thank you, Mr. Weiss," Jack told him, hoping against hope that he and the rest of the crew would still feel that way when the job was completed. And yet that trepidation, his fear both for the safety of his crew, and of the possibility that he was betraying their trust, was not enough to dampen the pleasure he found in for the first time in several lifetimes being surrounded by people he considered to be friends, whose company he enjoyed, whose fellowship he treasured.

Getting underway had taken some time. While the crew had come straggling back home, Jack had arranged with Henry to take over the sale of the cargo, and he'd tracked down Julian Kyle and given him the list of supplies Lach needed for the garden.

"So, Old Man, I come all this way looking for you, and all you have to say is 'Hi' and "Hey, kid, see you later, here's my shopping list'?"

"You're here looking for me?" But then he shook his head. "It'll have to wait, Julian. I'll be back in a couple of weeks."

And so with the crew on board and his most pressing business on the station in the hands of others, Harkness had given Kam the signal to lift off from the space station. He hoped it was a sight he'd see again—soon.

* * *

Chapter 18

_**A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.**_

_**--Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

Avi Stasi spotted Leah Ali sitting alone in the mess hall as soon as he entered. He took a moment to watch her unnoticed before letting his breath out in a puff, squaring his shoulders and turning his attention to Kam's coffee machine. That coffee alone would have made him grateful that the Captain had offered him a permanent posting. And he thought back to the postscript Jack had added at the end of their discussion, after welcoming him to the crew.

"You know, Mr. Stasi, _**no one**_ would be offered a job on this ship if Mr. Anders didn't want him here. I'm not the only one who has put the past in the past."

So he guessed he owed Kam for that too. He'd watched the younger man carefully over the last couple of months, amazed that he could ever have thought that what Jack and Kam had was less than a real relationship. Or that Kam's position on the ship was based on anything other than the fact that he was a damned good pilot. He still doubted that Kam was going to ever offer him friendship, and he couldn't blame him, but he'd come to admire the younger man. And to be honest, he envied all of his crewmates and the easy relationships they seemed to have fallen into. He supposed the closest things to friendship he'd developed were his relationships with Carsten Weiss, who really had to associate with him as they were roommates, and Tom Chibnall. Tom had always been nice to him, but recently Tom had also been spending a lot of time with Leah, and of all of the relationships on the ship, that was the one he envied most of all.

Steeling himself, coffee in hand, he approached the table where she was sitting.

"Mind if I join you?"

Leah looked up at him, a small smile on her lips. She was not unaware of the crush Stasi seemed to have developed, but he was a nice enough kid in a puppy dog kind of way, and while she didn't want to encourage him, she also had no desire for him to be hurt. Mostly she wished he'd notice the way Liza Fielding's gaze lingered on him from time to time.

"Hey. Come save me from my thoughts, would you?"

He slid into the seat opposite her.

"Unpleasant thoughts?"

"Just—introspection."

"I'm a pretty good listener, if you ever need a sounding board."

"Thanks, Avi," she told him sincerely, "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Chapter 19

_**Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.**_

_**--Edgar Allan Poe**_

Kam found Jack standing on the observation deck, the fourth place he'd looked after waking up alone in their bed. Wordlessly, he handed over a mug of coffee, then snuggled in under the arm his captain held out in invitation. They stood together silently for several minutes, staring out at the vast expanse of space.

"Sorry if I woke you," Jack finally said softly.

"You're worrying about what we're going to find?"

"I'm worrying about the crew. About making a mistake that puts everyone at risk."

"We'll be fine. You just focus on doing what you need to do."

"I do love you, you know, Kam."

"I know. I love you too."

* * *

Chapter 20

_**Gardens are not made by singing "Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade.**_

_**--Rudyard Kipling**_

"Liza? Do you think the Captain is really going to pay us?" Anneke asked softly. They were working straightening storage compartments, getting ready for a new load, the cabin refits and McLean's hydroponics. Strickson had jumped at the assignment. Since Liza had jumped into the fray at the bar like an avenging angel to defend her, Anneke had developed a serious case of hero worship.

Fielding considered the question.

"What do you think?"

"Well," the younger woman paused, wanting to sound thoughtful and intelligent before Fielding, "it seems as if there have been a lot of times when he could have done things a couple of different ways, and so far he's been fair. More than fair, sometimes," she added softly, thinking back to the error she had made, asking Jack about his relationship with Kam.

"And we weren't really due to be paid on our first contract for almost two more months. Plus his offers were generous, both for those who wanted to leave the ship, and for those who signed on. I've never heard of someone increasing the crew's cut because of something like this job."

"Have you ever heard of something like this job? Taking off on a salvage job before the last haul is sold?"

Fielding shrugged.

"Anneke, sweetie, I've heard stories about the things that happen on salvage ships that would straighten your curls. Heading out on a new job when the captain got a hot tip, well, that's nothing. And after what happened with the Janus and Hestia? I don't think the captain had any idea that her orbit was decaying until we got there, and I'm sure he wanted more time there. Maybe he's just not taking any chances. Now, what do you say we finish up on this compartment? I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time I actually had a _fresh_ tomato."

* * *

Chapter 21

_**It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; **_

_**it is less difficult to know that it has begun.**_

_**--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**_

Jim Smeed stepped into the empty sickbay, balancing two cups of coffee, a large plate piled high with sandwiches, and two apples.

"Anna?"

She emerged from the door to her private quarters.

"Jim! What are you doing here?" she asked, hurrying forward to help relieve him of some of his burden before everything went flying. "This is the middle of your shift, isn't it?"

"Command prerogative. I've barely seen you this last week, and I have a feeling things might get a little hairy once we reach the planet, so I figured I'd better grab the opportunity while I could. Besides, Lach said you hadn't eaten lunch."

"No," she said, glancing at the clock on the wall, then eying the proffered sandwiches. "I guess I lost track of time."

"You worried about what's coming?"

"What do you think?"

He turned away from her, setting down the last of the food on his desk as he answered.

"I think you'd be crazy not to be. It's funny—I'd follow Jackie to the ends of the universe without hesitation, but putting _YOU_ at risk, that's a whole different prospect."

"And I'm not so worried about myself, but… It's been so long, Jim, since I really allowed myself to care about people, since I was a part of a community, since I belonged anywhere. On this ship, I haven't had to be constantly looking over my shoulder for the first time in years. I'm watching this crew grow from a bunch of scared kids who've been stabbed in the back one too many times to believe in anyone or anything into a family, complete with squabbles and jealousies and tensions, but also with real respect, and love and unity. I know it's selfish, but mostly I don't want to lose that. Any of it." She moved to him and he wrapped his arms around her. "I don't want to be by myself anymore. I don't want to always be in charge of everything. Sometimes I'd just like someone else to take over for a while, to be strong. I'm so very tired of being alone."

"Oh, Anna," he whispered as he tightened his hold on her, "you're not alone any more. And while you're about the strongest person I know, any time you want me to take over for a little bit, you just say the word." He pulled back far enough to lay a gentle kiss on her forehead. "So, are you hungry?"

Laughing softly, she pulled away from him. "Starving, actually. You?"

"You bet." He handed her an apple. "You know, Lach says that they have high yield dwarf trees that are grafted, some with peach, nectarine, plum, cherry and apricot, some with different kinds of apples and pears, some with oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits, and that he thinks he'll be able to grow them in his garden room. Wouldn't that be something? Real oranges, off of a tree?"

"It'd be something all right. I can't wait to see…" Her eyes drifted back to the platter. "So Jimmy, what kind of sandwiches did you bring?"


	5. Part 5

Chapter 22

_**A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.**_

_**--Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

The closer the ship drew to the planet Pieri, the higher Jack's tension level increased, which had Kam reconsidering his negative response to Jack's insistence that he take one of the newly refitted cabins, when they were done, for his own space.

"I'm not saying I want you to move out, Cariad, just that you ought to have a place you can go if and when you want to be alone. Everyone wants to be alone sometimes, and this is one very small ship. Make it an office or a sitting room or a disco for all I care,"

"A 'disco'?" but Jack waved off the query.

"Just some place where you can go to relax, when you want your own space."

But the cabins were a long way from being completed, and so Kam, book in hand, made his way up to the observation deck. And found the couch already occupied. Carsten Weiss sat on one end of the couch, a book from Jack's library called _The Wind in the Willows_, Roberta Tolbert curled up tight against him, her eye closed as she listened to him read aloud. Carsten stopped reading as Kam entered.

"Oh! Sorry Carsten, Roberta. I—I didn't expect anyone to be here."

Tolbert straightened off of Weiss gracefully, not moving away from him, but sitting upright on the couch.

"No, Kam, it's all right. There aren't very many places where you can get away from everyone other than in a cabin, and then there are the issues of roommates. It's peaceful here, and the view is spectacular." Her face clouded. "We are allowed to be here, aren't we? I've never heard that we couldn't be, and the couch is here…"

"Yeah, Mr. Smeed found it somewhere. No, it's allowed. It's a nice place to read. Sorry to interrupt. I'll leave you to it." And he turned to go.

"Hey, Kam, stay a bit, would you? My voice is getting tired. Sit and visit with us. Give me a break," Carsten entreated. After a moment's hesitation, Kam settled into the aged armchair that had somehow found its way to the observation deck in the last couple of months.

They chatted idly for a while before Kam turned the conversation to the tome in his friend's hand.

"Good book?"

Carsten glanced at it.

"Yes, it is. The captain recommended it. It's about a mole who goes off on a great adventure with a water rat."

"What?"

Both Carsten and Roberta laughed gently at the look on Kam's face.

"They're like people, not like a real rat. It's really good. We've been taking turns reading it."

Carsten looked at her fondly.

"No one has read to me since my mother did, when I was a kid. That used to be my favourite part of the day." A peaceful look of reminiscence spread across his face.

Watching, a sudden lump rose in Kam's throat and he felt a desperate urge to escape. He rose abruptly, turning his face from his friends.

"Hey, guys, I've got to go. See you later. Enjoy the book."

* * *

Chapter 23

_**An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.**_

_**--Thomas Paine **_

"Buddy? Have you looked over the data on this wreck?" Liza Fielding asked from the entrance to the engine room.

Garrison looked up from the schematic he was studying, startled by her sudden presence.

"Hi, Liza. You look like your hand is starting to feel better."

She had badly bruised a bone in the barroom brawl. Doc Raynor had read her the riot act while determining that there wasn't a fracture, but hadn't been able to keep the twinkle out of her eye after hearing how the other four crewmembers had jumped in to defend Anneke and each other. She's asked Fielding what the Captain's response had been and Liza been smiling when she related his comment about wishing HE'D been with them—that HE would have shown those guys the error of messing with the crew of the Bonny Welshman. Not that his crew hadn't done an adequate job themselves. Then, as promised, he'd chastised them for getting in the fight to begin with. But with a bit of a smirk on his face.

"It is, thanks. So, have you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"So, what do you think?"

"I would guess if you didn't already know what I think, you wouldn't be asking that question. You're the salvage expert."

"And you're an engineer. What do you think?"

"I think we're going to find that anything of value on that ship has long since been stripped."

"So why are we running at full speed, rushing to the known site of a freighter that crashed a decade ago?"

"I assume, because the freighter is our cover while the captain takes care of some other business."

"Illegal business, do you think?"

Buddy pondered that for a bit.

"Illegal? I don't know. Possibly. Certainly something he doesn't want to do out in the open. But immoral? I've come to believe that Captain Harkness isn't that kind of man. No drugs, no slavery, no big robbery. I just don't see it."

"Anything likely to attract the interest of the 'Great and Bountiful'?"

"I've wondered that too, and it seems to me the captain is doing ANYTHING he can to avoid drawing their intention. Which probably means that if they did know what we're up to, whatever it is, they'd be plenty interested…"

"What do you think we ought to do?"

"I think we ought to keep our eyes and ears open, and do whatever the Captain tells us to."

* * *

Chapter 24

_**It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents.**_

_**--Eric Hoffer**_

Jack slipped into the bedroom silently, hoping to avoid waking his lover. Planet fall was less than twelve hours away, and they all were going to need whatever rest they could get.

He'd not actually planned on coming back to the cabin. He'd told Kam he would be up all night, and he certainly had the work to do. But heading into a situation, facing unknown dangers and threats, he couldn't keep himself from heading back to the cabin for a little comfort and solace, even if it consisted solely of sharing a bed with his sleeping love.

But as Jack slipped off his clothes, he suddenly realized that Kam was not asleep either.

"Kam?" The boy didn't answer, and that unusual silence caught Jack's attention like no noise could have. "Kam?"

He was curled on his side, his back toward Jack. The older man didn't even know why he was so sure that Kam was awake. Something in the stiffness of how he held his back?

"Are you okay?"

He slipped naked into the bed and put a hand on the younger man's shoulders. Like a coiled spring, Kam spun and threw himself into Jack's arms, his body shaking in compulsive sobs.

"Kam! What's wrong?"

But he was crying too hard to even speak; Jack held him, waiting patiently, his mind running in overdrive trying to figure out what had upset his lover so. Surely if there's been any kind of altercation he would have heard about it, wouldn't he? Finally Kam calmed enough to slip out some words between the sobs.

"I was talking to Carsten," he began.

Jack tensed, perplexed and astonished. What could (or would) Carsten Weiss have possibly said to reduce Kam to tears? He was just about the boy's best friend, and from everything Jack had seen, a thoroughly good man.

"Carsten and Roberta…"

Which flummoxed Jack all the more as Tolbert had been Kam's original defender amongst the crew, and he knew that Kam adored her, almost hero-worshipped her.

"He didn't say anything, I mean, he didn't mean to—he was just talking about home, and his family… I had a good mom, Jack. And we were a family. And then she died, and…" His lip quivered and tears ran from his eyes. "I loved her, Jack. And I miss her."

Jack's heart melted, and he flashed back to another time, another place, another devastated man, more than once, facing down the end of the world, so brave, so frightened, so very young—and back then Jack had had so little to offer him, a quick hug and kiss before heading off on his white horse, leaving Ianto alone to deal with the unimaginable to the best of his abilities. But that was a long time ago, and he had no intention of giving Kam a quick hug and heading off on his way. Not tonight. Tonight was about Kam. He would worry about the Great and Bountiful in the morning.

"It's okay, Baby. I've got you. Don't worry. Of course you miss your mom. I miss mine too, and my dad, and my brother. I can't tell you why she was taken from you when you were so young, but I know that she loved you very much, and that she'd be incredibly proud of you."

"She would have liked this ship, Jack." He sniffed and wiped his nose on his pyjama sleeve. "We lived on a ship with a permanent crew, but—not like this. Not where people cared about each other. My mom had to take care of both of us. There wasn't anyone else. I tried to take care of her too, but…"

"Kam, you were just a little boy! It's not the job of little boys to take care of adults."

"But there wasn't anyone else to take care of her, Jack!"

"I'm sorry about that, really I am, Kam. And I'm sorry that she died, and about what happened after. But I'm not sorry that you miss her, because that's the result of how much you loved her, and I wouldn't want you to forget that."

"I'm not sorry either, Jack. Not about any of it. I mean, I'm sorry she died, but not about the rest. Because no matter how horrid it was, if it hadn't happened that way, I might not have met you. And I wouldn't give that up for anything."

Jack didn't reply, just tightened his arms around Kam, planting a reverent kiss on his lover's forehead.

"Alright, Baby. Time to get some sleep. Don't worry. I have you. I'm not going anywhere tonight."

* * *

Chapter 25

_**It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world.**_

_**---J.K. Rowling**_

"Mr. Weiss, Ms. Cho—we need all eyes and ears on. I need to know if as much as a baseball comes tracking through this region of space."

"Aye, sir," Weiss answered, although he wasn't entirely sure he knew what a baseball was. They were approaching Pieri. Jack had had Kam slow their approach, to give the sensors more time to thoroughly scan surrounding space.

"I've located the wreckage, sir," Weiss announced.

"Anything else on sensors?"

"There's a settlement nearby, a few short range ships heading in an out from there. Nothing else."

"No long range ships? Anywhere?"

"Not on sensors, Sir."

"Ms. Cho? Any noise? You intercepting any communication?"

"Just routine communications from the short range ships."

"Stay alert. Let me know if anything changes. Kam, set a course for the wreckage. Set us down right next to it."

"Aye, Captain."

The normal friendly chit chatter on the bridge was absent as they made their approach, Harkness' tension and hyper alertness was contagious—every eye was glued to monitors. The crew let out a collective sigh when the ship settled gently onto the ground.

"Okay. Stasi, Fielding—you're in charge of the two salvage crews. Do a quick survey, then get to work recovering anything that's worth anything. Weiss, Tolbert, Ali—you're with Stasi. Chibnall, Garrison, Strickson, you're with Fielding. Cho and Jennings, keep your eyes and ears on the sky. Mr. Smeed, you have the con. Meanwhile I'm going to go meet the neighbours." He glanced over at his partner. "Kam, you up for a walk?"

The younger man looked up at him in surprise. He'd expected to be delegated to wait on the ship again, as he had been during the last salvage operation.

"Sure." His glistening eyes belied the casualness of his response.

"Then go get ready. I checked the surface temperature. You're going to want a light jacket. Dr. Raynor has our survival packs. I'll grab those and meet you at the ramp." He glanced over at the rest of his crew as Kam slipped from the bridge. "Everyone know what they're doing?"

A chorus of 'aye, sir's came in response.

"All right then, kids. Everyone be careful, keep your eyes open, and let Mr. Smeed know if there's ANYTHING even a little unexpected or out of the ordinary. Understand? Good. Stasi, Fielding, get your teams equipped and organized. I'm leaving you to work out the break schedule. And keep in touch with the first officer. I'll see you in a little bit."

He rose from the command chair and headed for the sick bay.

"Doc."

"Hi, Captain. I've got your pack ready." She looked at him, tension obvious in her posture.

"Be careful, Sir."

He held her eyes for a long, silent moment.

"We will. You going to be okay?"

"I'm fine. It's not me I'm worried about."

The corners of his lips twitched up.

"I suspect Mr. Smeed is worrying enough about you for all of us. Not that I'm not worried to, but…"

Her grin was larger.

"No sir, I understand, and yes, he is."

"He's a good man, Jim Smeed."

"I've learned that." She smiled more even more broadly, then became suddenly serious. "There are a lot of good men on this ship, and good women. Because their captain sets a good example. I'm honoured to serve with you, sir. And grateful for the opportunity."

"Maybe you should wait until we finish this mission before you decide that."

Her smile returned. "Yes, sir. Now take your packs and get out of here. And take care of Kam, would you?"

"It's my top priority. We'll see you in a couple of hours. Watch out for my crew, would you?"

"You bet."

* * *

Chapter 26

_**Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.**_

_**--John Ruskin**_

Jack watched Kam surreptitiously as they headed out down a dirt footpath in the direction of the settlement. Kam's eyes moved like pinballs, bouncing from one direction to the other, up, down, at every little thing, animals, insects, clouds, rocks…

"Kam?" Jack asked hesitantly, "When was the last time you were actually outside on the surface of a planet?"

Kam stopped abruptly and stared at Jack, considering.

"I'm not sure. Maybe as a little kid, I suppose. I mean, I must have been, right?"

"You don't remember?"

"Not really, no, I guess not."

"Once we get done with all of this, let's remember to hang around for the sunset, okay, Cariad?"

"Sure, Jack. Whatever you want."

He continued watching the younger man surreptitiously, regretting that this wasn't just an amble through the woods of a new planet, that they didn't have the time for Kam to examine everything that caught his attention. Kam turned his head suddenly and caught Jack's scrutiny.

"What?!?"

"Nothing. Just enjoying watching you. Wishing we weren't on a deadline."

"It's all so—foreign."

"It's a different planet."

"It's just—I was expecting to SEE different things, but every thing else, I hadn't thought about everything else…"

"What do you mean?"

"Everything. The feel of the air on my skin, it's cold but feels—heavy. And the noises! I've never heard sounds like these! But most of all, it SMELLS different from anywhere I've been before, and I'd never even considered that so much of a place is how it smells. I wish we had time just to—be—here. Do you know what I mean?"

"A long time ago, back on Earth, a man, an author, named Rudyard Kipling once said 'The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it,'" Jack told him. "If anything, that's even more true of planets." He paused, considering. "I've got _Captains Courageous_ somewhere. And _Kim_. I'll dig them out for you. You'd like them. They're stories of young men and adventure. And, if I can find it, I'll read you 'Gunga Din.'"


	6. Part 6

Chapter 27

_**Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts in a uniform manner.**_

_**--Joseph Addison**_

The settlement was built into the top of a heavily wooded hummock, not so high as to be particularly noticeable, but high enough to have a good view of the surrounding territory. The buildings had low profiles and were designed to blend in with the surrounding trees. They had drawn quite close before they could see the hamlet. Jack eyed it thoughtfully.

"Either someone has a real natural aesthetic, or this colony doesn't like being surprised by unexpected guests," he commented softly to Kam. The younger man too studied the hillside.

"We have company," he told Jack in a low voice, watching a young man step out from a previously unnoticed guard post.

"Captain Harkness?" the guard called softly.

"That's me."

"Welcome, sir. We've been expecting you. If the two of you will come with me…"

He led them up a narrow dirt path that wound nearly invisibly through the trees.

"Your settlement appears quite defensible," Jack commented. "Have you had to fend off attacks?"

"Any questions you have should be directed to our commander, Captain."

The path opened up onto a town square where a few dozen colonists were shopping at a farmers' market. Their guide led them through the square towards a fair-sized two-storey adobe building.

"This building houses all of our municipal offices," he volunteered. Jack and Kam followed him through the door, across a small atrium, through another door and into what was clearly the antechamber of a larger office. Signalling for them to wait, the colonist crossed to yet another door, knocked, waited for an answer from within, entered and then emerged after a moment, gesturing for the two off-worlders to join him in the inner sanctum. They entered the room to find it's only other occupant a handsome woman Jack guessed was in her mid-sixties.

"Commander Baker, this is Captain Jack Harkness and—" he paused, realizing he'd never been introduced to the other man.

"Kam Anders," Jack supplied smoothly.

The Commander held her hand out to Harkness.

"We were told that you were coming by yourself, Captain," she stated baldly, challengingly.

Jack looked at her in surprise.

"I had no communications with anyone regarding who I was and wasn't bringing with me," he replied mildly.

She paused, obviously thinking back, then studied Kam, focusing after a moment on the pendant hanging around his neck. Finally, she appeared to reach a conclusion.

"I may have misinterpreted something, then. The communiqué I received stated 'Captain Harkness works alone.' I interpreted it to mean that you would be unaccompanied. My apologies for the misunderstanding."

"No apologies necessarily. The information is simply outdated. Now, might we be able to get down to business? Hanging around waiting for Empire ships to show up makes me nervous."

"And we'll be happy to have this off of our hands. Attracting the attention of the empire doesn't appeal to us any more than it does you." She glanced over at a gangly teenager who was sitting quietly, avidly following the exchange.

"Lucas, bring me the artefact, would you?"

She turned back to Jack.

"I understand you know what this does."

"If it's as described, I've dealt with something similar before."

"Then you know, it's not something we want to fall into the hands of the Empire."

"I also know it's virtually impossible to destroy." He paused. "Commander, your settlement…"

"Yes, Captain?"

"It seems awfully well fortified for this region of space. And designed no to be noticed."

"There's no great mystery, Captain. We prefer to live quiet lives, undisturbed by the rest of the universe. But that in and of itself appears to invite speculation, arouse suspicion. So we've found it to be in our best interest not to attract attention if we can avoid it. One doesn't have to be a criminal to want to stay off of the Empire's radar screen." She eyed him thoughtfully. "From what I've heard, I'm guessing you understand the concept."

Jack smiled at her. "I have a passing familiarity with it, yes."

"We would have given anything not to have found this artifact."

The boy re-emerged carrying a box that he laid on the table before them. Kam glanced up at Jack who indicated with a twitch that it was all right for him to open. The younger man did, then looked down at something that looked like a medieval gauntlet and vambrace. He looked back at Jack.

"What is it?"

"Ianto called it the 'Rizen Mitten'." Jack remembered fondly. Then his eyes darkened. "It brings back the dead, by stealing life from the living." He looked back at Baker. "As much as we'd like to stay and visit, it's time for us to get on our way."

Chapter 28

_**It is a beautiful trait in the lover's character, that they think no evil of the object loved.**_

_**---Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**_

They walked back from the settlement silently at first. Clouds covered the sun, adding a atmospheric pall to their already more sombre mood.

"Jack?"

"Yes, Kam?"

"What's so dangerous about a glove that can bring people back to life?"

"What do you think about bringing people back to life, Kam? What would happen if, for example, no one died?"

"The universe is a big place, Jack. But I don't see how one glove could keep EVERYONE from dying…"

"The universe isn't THAT big. Not big enough to hold populations of immortals. Besides, living forever isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Believe me. And remember, this glove works by drawing the life force from one person, and giving it to another. So, what if the Great and Bountiful figured out how it works? And say, someone they value was dying. And they decided that, oh, Anna, for example, wasn't worth enough. They might be able to steal her life force to save the other person."

"That would be—illegal, wouldn't it?" asked Kam, horrified at the possibility.

"They make the laws."

"Unethical then."

At that, Jack just raised an eyebrow. The ethics of the Great and Bountiful impressed neither of them.

"Okay, horrible. It would be horrible. And wrong."

"I agree, absolutely. But look at it another way. What if you had had access to this glove when your mother was dying?"

"I—I don't know. I—I don't think it would change anything…"

"Then you're a stronger man than I, because when one of my friends died, with a complete knowledge of the risks, having already lost one friend to it, and almost lost another, I still searched for it and brought him back to life, and the universe be damned. So I _know_ the draw of the glove. And that was just with a KNOWLEDGE of it, of what it could do, just the IDEA of it. There's more to it than that. The glove has a power of its own, an allurement. It _wants _to be used. The longer you've been around it, the more it's been used, the stronger the pull. Believe me, Kam, it is _very_ dangerous." He paused. "If you were dying, Kam, and I had access, even with everything I know, I wouldn't hesitate to use it again."

"So, Jack," Kam asked quietly after they'd walked in silence for a few more moments, "how do you risk handing it over to someone. How do you know THAT person won't be drawn in by it?"

Jack considered that.

"I—I guess we don't, Kam. Maybe we'd better rethink handing it over. Maybe we'd better see if we can't destroy it instead."

"But what about Torchwood? They want it, don't they?"

"They might just have to be disappointed."

The rest of the walk was made in silence, Kam taking in as much as he could, and giving Jack time to think, Jack pondering his options. As they drew closer to the crashed ship where the rest of the crew was hard at work, Harkness broke the silence.

"I'm afraid we don't have time to wait around for the sunset, Kam."

"Rain check, eh, Jack?"

Jack looked at him regretfully.

"Rain check."

"And Jack?"

"Yes , Kam?"

"What about the other one?"

"Other one?"

"Well, don't gloves come in pairs?"

* * *

Kai Jennings was monitoring the sensors and thus the first to identify the return of their captain.

"Buddy," he toggled the comm.

"What's up, Kai?"

"We've got two people approaching from the direction of the settlement. I think it's Kam and the Captain."

"I'll take a look. Thanks."

He made his way through the wreckage and exited the crashed ship just as the two crewmembers emerged from the surrounding forest.

"Captain," he greeted them as they drew close.

"Mr. Garrison. Everything all right here?"

"Anneke got cut on some sharp rubble. She's getting sewed up by the doc, but she'll be fine. Liza went with her. Otherwise, it's been quiet. Mr. Smeed is on the bridge with Jennings." He paused, then queried, "You were successful?"

Jack eyed his expression of studied innocence.

"The settlers were quite hospitable," he answered carefully.

"And your—" He paused, looking for the right word. 'Errand' seemed to casual, but the alternatives he was coming up with seemed so—militaristic. But he finally settled on the word he'd started with. "—your mission?"

"Mission?"

With a 'just how stupid do you think were are' look, Buddy replied. "Sir—we rush off before even selling our haul to come salvage a ship that's been sitting here for a decade, picked over from stem to stern, going no where. We approach the planet at a crawl, studying every ship approaching and leaving the system, scan for Imperial communications. When we land, you set An and Kai on full time high alert and head straight for the settlement. We trust you, but don't think we aren't paying attention."

Jack and Kam exchanged a long look, and it was the younger man who answered.

"Our mission was successful."

"Good. So was ours."

Jack looked at him sharply.

"What do you mean?"

"We found something I think will interest you. Will we be leaving soon?"

"As soon as we can get out of here."

"Then let me get my team back on the ship, and, with your permission, I'd like to see you in your office."

"We'll check in with the doc, then meet you there," Jack told him, his mind spinning, trying to figure what of value could possibly have been left on the old freighter.

* * *

Assuring himself that Anneke Strickson's injuries were not serious, and along with Kam getting the Raynor's clean bill of health, standard practice after being away from the ship and interacting with outlying settlers, Jack headed back to his office, his pilot at his side.

"Captain, are you sure…"

"Kam, I want you to be there. Jim too." He had called for the first officer as they'd left the sick bay and his old friend was waiting along with the large salvage expert when they reached the office. Garrison waited until the door was closed and secure before producing a datapod. Jack eyed it curiously.

"And that is…"

Garrison looked at Smeed, who nodded for him to explain.

"Data downloaded from the ship's computers."

"After all this time, you found something valuable?" Jack asked sceptically.

"Well, not me. It was Liza actually. This information was hidden, buried. I don't think anyone who checked the ship's computers has found it before now. And we wiped it. But it seems like something that we might find useful."

Harkness' curiosity was getting the better of him.

"Mr. Garrison, what IS it?"

"The freighter was apparently used by smugglers. We actually found some other things in hidden compartments. I guess earlier salvage attempts have focused on the obvious. Should make a pretty penny on some of it. But the really valuable thing, that was what we found in the computer…"

"Mr. Garrison!"

"Here, Sir. Let me show you…"


	7. Part 7

Chapter 29

_**Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation.**_

_**--John Ruskin**_

_**Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.**_

_**---Eric Hoffer**_

"Sir?" An Cho spoke up from her station.

"Ms. Cho."

"I'm picking up—" she paused, listening to her earpiece for a minute, "I'm picking up a signal. I think," she paused again, "no, it's encrypted, but I'm _**sure**_ it's Imperial."

"From how far away?"

"Close."

Harkness turned to the sensor console. "Jennings?" In the absence of any recognized threat, Jack had had Jennings remain at the navigation station to give Weiss a break after his labour on the salvage crew.

"I'm sorry sir, there's—" Jennings stopped mid-sentence as something caught his eye. "I'm sorry, sir, I've been assuming this intermittent disruption was a ghost, but there it is again. It could be a small, cloaked ship, moving from debris field to debris field. It keeps them from registering consistently on our sensors."

"Where?"

"Coming around behind that nearest moon to the far side of the planet." He flashed Harkness an anguished look. "I'm sorry, sir," he repeated. "I've been watching for an Imperial cruiser. Not a cloaked echo."

Jack's frustration at the late warning warred with his mental acknowledgement that the Welshman's aged sensors frequently produced ghosts, and that no matter how hard he was working, Jenning's on-the-job training hardly put him in the class of skilled communications officer, much less a top-notch navigator who one would have expected to be able to differentiate between that ripple and one from a small, cloaked ship.

"I should have expected a covert operation," Jack told him. "My fault. I know better. The only issue now is how to get out of here before they arrive. What's your opinion? Do you think they see us?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say no, sir. We're on the planet's surface, very close to a much bigger signal where there's an area of known debris. Plus the same strategies they're employing to keep from showing up on other people's sensors will make their own scans less effective."

"And they don't have any reason to suspect that anyone else would be here," Jack added thoughtfully. He looked at Cho speculatively.

"Mr. Jennings, would you please call Mr. Weiss to the bridge?" He then addressed Cho.

"When we arrived, you and Mr. Weiss identified several short range craft in the area."

"Yes, sir."

"And their communications."

"Yes, sir." She looked at him questioningly.

"Would you be able to mimic that? Make the _Welshman_ sound like one of those ships?"

Understanding Jack's plan, Kam immediately turned his attention to the sensors, studying the flight paths of the smaller ships.

"Yes, I think so, sir."

"Captain?" Weiss emerged onto the bridge.

"Mr. Weiss, can you reconfigure our sensors and electronic output to make the _Welshman_ look on sensors like one of the short range ships you saw when we were approaching the planet?"

Unaware of the current situation, Carsten blinked thinking furiously. "Ummm—sure, I think so. I don't see why not." He looked at the Captain questioningly.

"How long will it take? We have an Imperial stealth ship showing up on our doorstep any minute and with a sink full of dishes and the Sunday paper spread out all over the living room, I'd just as soon they not find us at home."

Not for the first time did Weiss shake his head at the Captain's frequently unintelligible statements, but he did get the gist of the request.

"With Roberta's help? Maybe fifteen minutes."

"Five would be better. Get going. Take Stasi and Ali with you. And wake Garrison up if he's not already in the engine room." Both of the _Welshman_'s engineers could often be found in the engine room off shift. Jack turned to his pilot.

"Kam—"

"I've already got it plotted, sir. I can make it to the settlement flying at about three meters, hovering at surface transport speeds, then follow the supply course from here to the second moon. There's enough traffic back and forth, I don't think they'll look too closely at it unless we do something to attract their attention. Once we're behind the moon, I can head straight out, keeping it between us and them, and get us the hell out of here. I don't think they'll ever know we were here."

"Mr. Weiss?" Jack called over the comm to the engine room.

"Sir?"

"Let us know when you're ready to go."

"Aye, Captain."

"Sir?" Kam volunteered.

"Mr. Anders?"

"If we shut off our long range sensors and communication, I think we can safely start the ground portion of the trip, although--" He paused.

"What is it?"

"If they see us, the Imperial ship MIGHT think this is an expedition from the settlement. I'd hate to lead it right to them."

"Alternatives?"

"We're just off a regular supply line between the settlement and the southern space port. If we head instead to the spaceport, it's a longer trip, but it might draw them away from the colony instead of to them. If they pay attention to us at all. Maybe I'm being paranoid."

"No, I think you're being cautious. And compassionate. And it's that strength that makes the human race worth preserving. Do what you can to make us unremarkable, but let's get going."

"Towards the spaceport?"

"Towards the spaceport." He looked at Cho.

"I don't suppose there's a way to warn the colonists."

"Not without attracting the attention of the Imperial ship."

"Sir?" Kam spoke up again. "It's a lot lower tech, but I know how to get a warning to Commander Baker."

Without explaining further, Kam flew around the wreckage of the freighter at just over a meter off the ground and at an absolute crawl.

"Once we're over the road, we can go a little faster," he explained, "but right now we need to look like some sort of caterpillar transport." The track was just over a kilometre away, and the entire crew held their breath, as if that effort could make the ship quieter, hovering over the sensor array, watching for any sign that the stealth ship had noticed something out of the ordinary. Finally, they reached the roadway and Kam set the ship down.

"Kam, what are you doing?" Jack asked, perplexed.

"Passing on a message," he replied. "Come on," and he exited the bridge. Jack cast a look around, seeing the rest of his crew watching after Kam with equally confused expressions on their faces, all except for An, whose stoic countenance might have held a shimmer of frank admiration. Turning, Jack hurried after his lover.

He caught up with Kam at the boarding area where the younger man had already popped the hatch and headed down the gangway.

"Kam?"

"Come on, Jack. Hurry!"

And as he came down the ramp himself, Jack suddenly understood Kam's plan. Laughing aloud at its simplicity, he followed. For Kam had set the _Welshman_ down in front of a transport heading from the spaceport to the colony in such a way that he completely blocked the road. And now he was rushing to the transport to give the driver a message to carry to Commander Baker. The exchange was brief, and during it the driver's expression evolved from one of irritation to one of understanding, anxiety and then determination and gratitude. By the time Jack reached the vehicle, Kam and the driver were shaking hands.

"Captain Harkness," the driver addressed him, "thanks for the warning. I'll let Commander Baker know as soon as I reach base. I know it slowed you down to let us know. We won't forget it."

* * *

Chapter 30

_**It is important to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting,**_

_**for only then can evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated.**_

_**-- Albus Dumbledore**_

"Mr. Weiss, somewhere in sector 573 there should be a small dark nebula. See if you can find it and plot an indirect course there."

"Aye, sir." Weiss looked at him curiously, but the captain didn't offer any more information. The navigator turned his attention to his sensors, focusing in on the sector the Captain had identified. Scanning one small region at a time, he fell quickly into a rhythm. The rest of the bridge faded away around him as he focused on the sensors, time seemed to stand still. And then…

"Captain? I've found a dark nebula. Think it might be the one you're looking for?"

"Show me on the sensors, Mr. Weiss," the captain instructed as he approached the navigation station. The navigator pulled the image up on a screen.

"How much of the sector have you scanned?"

Weiss checked his records.

"Seventy-nine percent, Sir."

"And this is the only nebula you've identified?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, let's go take a closer look. But Kam?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Fly casual."

"Sir?"

"If anyone were watching, I don't want them to recognize that the subject of our interest is that nebula. I want to get closer while looking like we're interested in any and everything else in the area. Fly casual."

"I'll do my best, sir."

"Just figure out what you would do if you were going straight there, and then do—anything else."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"Knock, knock."

Jack looked up from the object he'd been staring at on his desk to see his first officer standing in his office doorway.

"Credit for them?" Smeed asked.

"Just trying to figure out how to destroy this damned thing."

Smeed moved into the room, looking at the glove curiously.

"So that's what all the fuss has been about."

"Yup."

"Didn't you say you already destroyed one once."

"Yeah. Twice, actually."

"How did you do it?"

"I think I shot it."

"So, why not shoot this one?"

"I shot it with a gun, with bullets, projectiles. I'm not sure what a burst of energy from a laser pistol would do to it. Might be dangerous. I'd hoped to have a chance to do this before we left the planet, but…"

"Well, there are a lot of asteroids around here."

Jack stared at him. "Jimmy, you're a genius!" He flipped on his comm.

"Mr. Anders?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"Find us a large asteroid nearby and put us down on it, would you?"

"Sir?"

"Let me know when you're about to put down."

"Yes, Captain."

He turned his attention back to Smeed.

"Jimmy, I'm going to need a really big gun."

* * *

The ship waiting at the rendezvous point in the nebula was a sleek one-person explorer, floating tight against a large chunk of debris.

"Dock with that ship please, Mr. Anders. And then come join me in my office."

"Aye, sir."

Jack swept off the bridge, headed for the boarding area.

The woman who emerged from the airlock was tall, sleek and officious. Jack had a flashback to the Torchwood of old. She looked at him curiously.

"Captain Harkness?"

"Captain Jack Harkness." He held his hand out to her. After a moment, she took it. "Lt. Harriet Keats."

"You have quite a reputation, Captain."

"Some of it may even be earned."

She cast her gaze around the boarding area.

"Perhaps we could move this conversation to a more private location?"

"My office is just down the passageway." He led the way. As requested, Kam was waiting in the office. He stood when the duo entered. Keats looked at him sharply.

"Harriet Keats, Kam Anders. The _Welshman_'s pilot. He helped me recover the glove. And destroy it."

That redirected her attention sharply.

"What? You were directed to hand the artefact over to Torchwood."

"First, Ms. Keats, I don't work for you. I don't work for Torchwood. And if I did, I would outrank you to the degree that you wouldn't even know my name. How much do you know about this artefact?"

"Almost nothing. That's why we needed to study it!"

"Check the archives. You have records of an extensive examination."

"Done with 500 year old technology!"

"_I_, on the other hand, have a great deal of experience with this artefact," he continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Not only was I involved in the original research, but this is the THIRD glove I've destroyed. I've used it, I've felt its power, I know its draw, and I would sooner have flown this ship, filled with the people I care most about in the universe, into a supernova than handed that glove over to someone who wanted to study it."

Keats eyed him sharply, but thoughtfully.

"Then why this meeting? Why put us all at risk?"

"First, it seemed safer than trying to hail you. Too many ears. And I thought you might be interested in this…" He nodded at Kam, who until then had remained still and silent. The younger man pulled out a datapod and laid it on the table, unconsciously mimicking Garrison's earlier flourish.

Keats eyed it curiously.

"And that is?"

"Something we recovered from a smuggling ship. One that worked this quadrant in space for a lot of years, and kept meticulous records. This contains everything you could want to know about Imperial protocols in this region—communications frequencies, hidden bases, patrol patterns, locations that are hidden from their probes by spatial phenomenon. It is the arrogance of the powerful to assume that things which have worked in the past will continue to work in the future. The Empire is mired in its long-standing habits. This is everything Torchwood needs to stay under their radar."

* * *

Chapter 31

_**Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.**_

_**--Joseph Addison**_

"Anna? Got a minute?" Kam stuck his head through the door of the infirmary.

"Sure, Kam. Come on in." She set aside the records she was reviewing.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing. The last few days can't have been easy for you."

She smiled at him.

"Anyone ever tell you that you are a really nice guy, Kamden Anders?"

"Jack does, all the time."

"Really?"

"Sure."

She pondered that for a moment.

"The two of you seem to be doing all right."

"Yeah. Really well."

"But Kam," she hesitated, then continued. "There's still a big difference in your ages. And your levels of experience in relationships."

"You know how they say 'it's not the years, it's the mileage'?"

"I know you've been though a lot, Kam, but it hasn't given you any experience in relationships. You've never been in love with anyone before."

The grin he flashed at her told her she'd seriously misunderstood the point he was trying to make.

"No, I didn't mean MY mileage. I feel SO young. I've never done ANYTHING. I just walked on a planet for the first time, and it was amazing! There's SO MUCH I still want to do! I was _going_ to say that based on Jack's mileage, EVERYONE is too young for him. And because of that, you think he should be alone?"

"I didn't mean that. I just worry about you. Both of you. At first, I was worried that Jack might be manipulative, taking advantage of you. I don't think that any more. I don't think either of you is going to intentionally hurt the other. But unintentionally? Are you sure that what you feel for Jack is love, and not just gratitude because he's the first person who showed you any affection?"

"Anna, do you believe in past lives? That if you love someone enough, you can come back from death to be with him again?"

"No, Kam, I don't. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, I think you need to do it NOW. No matter how much you love Jack, when he dies, he's not going to come back to you."

He chuckled softly.

"No, I'm quite sure that Jack won't be returning from the dead to sweep me off my feet. But I also know that we truly do love each other. He's the man of my dreams—literally. Whether we have two weeks together or eighty years, I won't regret or second-guess being with him now. "

"Big difference from the last time you darkened my door."

"No kidding. That's not something I ever want to go through again." He paused, considering how much he felt comfortable sharing with her, then decided he really didn't feel the need to keep secrets from the doctor. "Remember when I told you my feelings were hurt when I thought Jack ignored me, and you told me to talk to him?" She nodded. "Well, I started to talk to him, and got as far as saying that I wanted to talk about us before we were interrupted. Jack thought I was trying to tell him that I wanted him to back off, so he did. But I didn't know that, and couldn't figure out why he was pulling away. The more I tried to act nonchalant, to keep from looking as if I was clinging to him, the more he thought I wanted to be with other people, so he kept trying to tell me that that would be okay because he thought that if he gave me enough freedom, I wouldn't leave him. But the last thing I want is to be with anyone else. It was killing us both."

"It probably won't be the last time you have a misunderstanding with Jack, you know, Kam."

He laughed almost desperately.

"I think you could safely put money on that. But I hope that next time we'll actually TALK about it."


	8. Part 8

Chapter 32

_**They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.**_

_**--Edgar Allen Poe**_

"Hey, Carsten, you got a minute?" Roberta's voice floated out of the hallway.

"Sure. What's up, kiddo_?"_

"I was just wondering—Kam's thing tonight…"

"Yeah?"

"You planning on going?"

"To dinner?"

"Well, yeah, that and—afterwards…"

"Ms. Tolbert—are you trying to ask me out on a date?"

"And if I was?"

"I guess I'd have to accept, so—are you?"

"I guess I am."

.

"Great. Pick me up half an hour after shift?"

"I'll be there."

* * *

"You're working tonight, eh, Tom?"

"Oh, hey, Leah. Yeah, yeah I am. Sorry about that. You're wondering about dinner?"

"Well, I figured you were working, but…"

"S'okay. No worries. Just figured I'd ask."

"You going anyhow?"

"Well, it's that or go hungry."

"No, I meant—after dinner."

.

"Suppose so. I mean, you'll be working, and the rest of my shift will all be there, so unless I want to be alone, which I don't particularly tonight, I guess I'll go. Unless you want me to swap shifts with someone?"

"You know, as much fun as it sounds like it's going to be, frankly if we're going to swap shifts, I'd rather do it when we can actually _talk_ to each other. And be alone together, not with the whole ship watching. Do you mind?"

"No, I kind of like it. But I'll be thinking of you…"

* * *

"Hey, Lach?"

"Hey, you! What's up?"

"Tonight, you mind waiting for the second round so that we can go together? Not dinner. I mean, you're welcome to eat if you're hungry, but the rest?"

"Don't worry, Sweetheart. I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

"Buddy?"

"Hi, Anneke. What's up?"

"You planning to go to Kam's thing tonight, after shift?"

"I thought I might. How about you?"

"I think it sounds fun. So, I was wondering—are you going with anyone? Not as a date or anything, just—with anyone?"

"I kind of figured I'd be going alone. Why?"

"Well, I thought, if you wanted, instead of us each going alone, maybe we could go together. As friends, I mean. What do you think?"

"When and where should I pick you up?"

* * *

"Anna?"

"Hiya, Jim! What are you doing down here at this hour? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I was hoping to catch you. Got a minute?"

"For you? Of course."

"You planning on going to Kam's thing tonight?"

"I kind of thought I'd wait for round two so that you and I could go together—if you wanted to, I mean."

"No, I mean, of course I want to, except that I kind of thought maybe I'd take advantage of my command prerogative and leave Mr. Chibnall with the bridge for a couple of hours. Only if you wanted me to, of course. If you'd rather wait…"

"I'd kind of like to see the captain's reaction, actually, if you're sure you don't mind."

"I'll meet you at dinner." And with a quick brush of his lips across hers, he was gone.

* * *

"No, Leah, I'm not going to ask him. Besides, we're on opposite shifts."

"Liza, one of you could damned well swap with someone or arrange coverage if you wanted to. It's not like either of you has a bridge post. You're both salvagers. See, you even have that in common!"

"What would he think? What could he possibly think if I did it?"

"Presumably he'd think that you might just be interested in him. Hardly a terrible thing. He's a nice guy, Liza, and I get the feeling that he's terribly lonely. If you asked, I don't think he'd say 'no'."

"And if he did? I'd still have to face him. Day in, day out, every day for the foreseeable future. He's never even given me a second glance, Leah."

"So don't make it sound like a date. Ask him if he wants to go together, just because. Because everyone else is paired up. Whatever. Take the plunge. I don't think you'll regret it."

"Is that what you did with Tom?"

"Liza, Sweetie?"

"Yes?"

"Haven't you figured out by now that I don't kiss and tell?"

* * *

Chapter 33

_**Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times,**_

_**if one only remembers to turn on the light.**_

_**--Albus Dumbledore**_

Kam met Jack at the door to their quarters with a grin on his face. Jack eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you up to, Cariad?"

"I found something in the archives."

Jack eyed him speculatively. The archives of the Welshman were vast, far beyond those of a typical salvage ship of her class, but he was pretty familiar with the majority of what was there, and he couldn't think of anything in particular which would have put that impish gleam in Kam's eye.

"Oh?" he asked, leaning in for a kiss. Kam's lips welcomed his, warm and soft. A long moment passed before they separated.

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's a surprise. A celebration of a successful mission. And tonight we're going to the mess for dinner."

* * *

A quick mental head count told Jack that the entire night shift was gathered in the mess when they entered. Not that uncommon, he supposed, as everyone was just coming off of shift, and not too many people skipped meals in deep space, but still interesting that, for example, no one had decided to head for a quick workout before their meal. Even more unusual, the lights were dimmed, the tables set with cloths and bottles of wine. Flameless candles flickered around the room. Jack glanced at Kam.

"Did I miss someone's birthday?" Anna was in charge of arranging the birthday celebrations, but usually she mentioned them to him in advance, offering at least the semblance of asking his permission before hijacking the mess hall and chef.

"Nope," Kam answered smugly, unhelpfully. "Oh, look—there's a place for us at the table with Anna and Mr. Smeed."

Jack looked over sharply. He hadn't noticed his first officer in the midst of the night shift, and raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Don't worry, Jackie," Smeed responded as the Captain and pilot approached his table. "It should be smooth sailing today, but Mr. Chibnall knows where to find me if anything comes up. And Mr. McLean and Mr. Anders have promised the day shift the same meal at the end of their day."

"Do you know what's going on, Jimmy?"

His old friend shrugged, and cast an indulgent glance at his companion. "All I know is that the fine doctor asked me to join her tonight, if I were able," he lied.

The smell of warm roasted meat wafted in to the room and Lach emerged, with platters of synthesized roast beef, turkey and goose, accompanied by Yorkshire pudding and steamed asparagus. Jack did a quick mental calculation. No, this wasn't anywhere close to Christmas, even if anyone on the crew even had a clue what Christmas was, much less a traditional English Christmas. He watched , pondering the menu, as McLean served the tables, casting a practiced eye around before slipping into an empty seat at the captain's table. His gaze met that of the young pilot.

"Meet your approval?"

"Perfect, Lach. It's just like—" He glanced at Jack and bit his tongue. After working on this surprise for so long, he'd almost blown it. Turning back to McLean, he finished simply. "Thank you."

Lach tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"My pleasure. I've been looking forward to tonight."

* * *

The rec room had been turned into a lounge—low lights, comfy chairs and couches which had been produced from god knows where, with a big screen as a focal point of the little clusters of seating.

"Couldn't miss the chance of a Movie Night with my best guy," Anna whispered to Jack, scooping up a tub of buttered popcorn before leading a bemused Smeed to a somewhat secluded love seat.

_Movie night?_

The rest of the night shift collected popcorn and settled into seats. Few of them had ever seen a movie, some had no idea what one even was. Kam picked up a large tub of popcorn and a couple of drinks, then led Jack to a comfy settee.

"We tried to recreate more kinds of traditional movie foods, but Lach and I couldn't find enough information to have any idea what Jujubes, Raisnettes or Hot Tamales were like to even try to make them. So, we have popcorn. With or without butter."

"Cariad---"

"Be patient, Jack. Just for another minute, would you?"

The lights dimmed. As soon as he heard the tinkling theme music, Jack looked over at Kam, shocked. It had never occurred to him that somewhere a copy of THIS might still exist. Much less buried in the archives of his own ship.

Kam leaned in to whisper in Jack's ear. "At first I wasn't sure this was the same story, since the title is different, but it is! I found a copy with subtitles, not dubbed. I thought you'd prefer to hear it in the original language."

English. How long had it been since Jack had heard spoken English? At least spoken by anyone other than Henry, on the rare occasions when they were alone, without possibility of being overheard. It wasn't a politically good move to be heard speaking English these days. And what better to hear in English than the story of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_? Short of Shakespeare, he couldn't imagine anything that appealed to him more. Jack remembered seeing the film originally with Suzie Costello, his first hire in the rebuilding of Torchwood Three after Alex had massacred almost the entire team. How very, very long ago that had been… The majority of his memories of Suzie had been tainted by what happened in the end, but not, for some reason, those of the day they'd played hooky and gone to see Harry Potter.

He allowed his mind to wander for a moment more, to visit with Suzie, that Suzie he had known in the beginning, before she was seduced by the glove, and with Tosh, so lovely and gentle, and Owen, whose acerbic wit and complete disdain for authority disguised a deeply damaged but caring heart. And then there was Gwen. Five hundred years later he still wondered over the initial pull she had exerted on him. He supposed it was her brashness, in contrast to Ianto's initial reticence, still protecting a horrific secret, torn apart by guilt, fighting his attraction to Jack at the moment that she joined their little team. But he'd struggled for a minute to come up with her name, and Ianto lived permanently in his heart and soul.

With a mental shake, he brought himself back to the present, to Kam's marvellous gift, to two hours of listening to spoken English—ENGLISH—and the wonderful world of Hogwarts. Pulling his lover closer against him, he leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Thank you, Kam. Thank you."

* * *

Chapter 34

_**There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.**_

_**--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**_

An Cho sat alone in the back row of the arranged "movie salon." She had chosen the seat assuming that the Captain and Mr. Anders would sit front and centre, and she would be as far from them as possible. She would have passed on Movie Night all together, but was afraid that her absence would not only be noted but also commented upon. Instead, the Captain and his Cyprian ended up sitting directly in front of her. She couldn't have avoided seeing and hearing them no matter how hard she tried.

Not that they were actually DOING anything. The Captain had his arm around the boy, and Kam was snuggled in against him. They were cuddling, but both were completely enthralled by the film, and other than a bit of soft whispering at the beginning and an occasional soft exclamation of recognition from Kam, which made An think that he had some prior familiarly with the story, they were silent.

It was just the FACT of them, and how the Captain shoved his proprietorship under their noses. Celebrating the fact that he had bought this boy, removed him from the only place his family knew to find him, so that if they WANTED to track him down, they couldn't.

She'd tried so hard to keep away from Anders, to avoid getting to know him, to like him, but the _Welshman_ was a small ship; it was impossible to avoid ANY other crewman, especially one who served on the same shift, on the same bridge crew. And he was such a damned likeable kid, which made it all the worse.

Not for the first time did she second-guess her decision to sign on as a permanent part of _Welshman_'s crew. But she was SO tired, had spent so much time looking over her shoulder, keeping up her defences, moving from place to place, making sure she was unnoticed by anyone and everyone, feeling so much hatred, so much pain. She was worn out, and frankly deciding what to do next, if she left the ship, would have taken more energy than she possessed. Besides, other than—well, otherwise it was a good job, interesting but not overwhelming. The crew was treated fairly, and with respect, and when was the last time that had been true of anywhere she'd found herself? Plus the money wasn't bad, and she liked her fellow crewmembers. She thought back to the brawl she'd gotten into on Omega, and a frisson of pleasure coursed through her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt like she was truly part of something the way she had that day, sitting at the detention centre, singing with Buddy and the rest. For at least a few minutes, she hadn't hurt. And she couldn't remember the last time that had been true either. And so she had stayed, and signed. And agonized.

* * *

Epilogue

_**The stars shall fade away, **_

_**the sun himself Grow dim with age, **_

_**and nature sink in years, **_

_**But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,**_

_**Unhurt amidst the wars of elements,**_

_**The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.**_

_**--Joseph Addison**_

Kam Anders set the _Bonny Welshman_ down on the deck of the Omega Station landing bay like a feather drifting onto the ground. Intimately familiar with their ship, Captain Harkness and First Officer Smeed felt the touchdown. For the rest of the crew, arrival was signalled by the sound of the engines powering down.

Tom Chibnall, on the bridge for the approach and arrival, shook his head ruefully.

"Never will I be able to land a ship like that," he sighed. Kam looked at him with surprise. Flying ships came as naturally to him as breathing, sometimes easier. He knew he was a good pilot, and took some pride in his ability, but it was clear from his expression that he really had no understanding of how extraordinarily skilled he truly was. Jack Harkness clapped a friendly hand on Chibnall's shoulder.

"Not many people can, Tom. You've become a damned good pilot nonetheless, and I'm glad to have you on my crew." He glanced around the bridge, and realized that virtually the entire crew had gathered for their arrival at the station. "That goes for all of you. And I'm not just glad, I'm proud to be working with you." He met Avi Stasi's eye. "All of you.

And that's something I've not felt for a long time."

He cast his gaze around one more time, before continuing.

"All right. Twenty-four hours freedom, then back to work. Mr. Smeed has some pocket money for each of you—a thank you from me for indulging this last little detour. Be sure you pick it up before you go. And I've arranged to pick up the tab for a meal and a couple of drinks each at Bessie's. It's a little off the beaten track, but worth finding. And I'll see everyone back at your duty stations and ready to work tomorrow..."

FIN

(for now—Helen's up next with another doozey of an adventure!)


End file.
